


Love Thy Neighbour

by orphan_account



Category: Grudge Match (2013)
Genre: BJ being a cutieeeeee, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-01-29 01:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12619656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Samantha is B.J's sweet neighbour, a shy women completely in love with B.J and who adores his son.What she doesn’t know is that B.J is completely in love with her too, but is too afraid to say anything.Through hardships and family dramas, they must try to make their relationship work.





	1. Welcome Home Samantha

# Love Thy Neighbour

  
Sam pulls up to her house, a small semi-detached place painted a hue of soft yellow, with a white door and bright purple flower pots sat next to her windows.  
Sam exits her car, slamming her door closed with considerable force. Her trip to visit her family in New York had turned into a usual waste of time, and she’d ended up regretting the whole thing.  
She wonders why she keeps going back, every time she does she ends up leaving with the same bitter taste in her mouth and a sour expression plastered on her face.  
She chuckles to herself, picturing how she must look right now. Light blonde hair pulled into a messy ponytail, dark circles under her bright green eyes and a scowl of hate that could kill a man.  
She struggles to get her luggage into her house, huffing in defeat as her bags clatter to the floor of her living room.  
Sam pulls a red bag out of the pile and stares at it lovingly, placing it on her pink sofa with care, imagining Treys delight when he sees the toys she bought him.  
She’s about to sit down and make a much needed cup of tea to soothe her frazzled nerves, when she realises she left her phone in her car. Her eyelids are already drooping closed, but she pulls through her exhaustion and pushes herself towards her front door.  
Sam treks back outside and retrieves her mobile and sees a familiar blue car park next to hers, the engine whirring to a stop.  
B.J must be back.  
A small boy throws the door open, grumbling something under his breath before catching a glimpse of her, his whole face lighting up.  
“Samantha! You’re back!” Trey squeals, hopping out of the car and running up to Sam at hyper speed and colliding with her legs, wrapping his tiny arms around her.  
She stumbles back and chuckles to herself, ruffling his hair lovingly. Trey and Sam have always got on well, that’s mostly due to the fact she’s like a child herself.  
“Hey there tiger! How have you been?” Sam giggled, watching Treys grip around her tighten.  
“Good. But I think Daddy missed you. Where did you go?” Trey looked at her with a sad expression with his lips pressed into a tight frown.  
Her heart skipped a beat in her chest and she looked up to see B.J stood by the road, picking up Treys discarded school bag. He looks up at Sam, a warming smile growing on his face, and waves.  
She blushes and waves back, a knot forming in her stomach. She had an intense crush on B.J ever since she moved in next door a year ago. She never said anything to him, every time she tried to, she froze. Her body went rigid and she ended up blurting out how lovely the weather had been recently.  
Besides, he was way too gorgeous to go for her. She felt like she looked like an average girl, not exceedingly pretty, but enough for someone to be proud to call their girlfriend.  
Sam suspected he had a whole string of women just throwing themselves at him, and who wouldn't, he was unfairly attractive in more ways than one.  
She never wanted to risk confessing her feelings because she felt like he had better options than just 'the girl next door'.  
"I went to Arizona to visit my family. I bought some gifts for you, they’re on my sofa. You wanna take a look?”  
Treys eyes widened in wonder and he grinned at her before taking off again, barraging through her front door and leaving it wide open.  
She chuckled again, shaking my her head and turning back around, almost smacking straight into B.J. He managed to grab her shoulder, steadying her. His sudden touch made her knees go weak and her breathing to become raspy.  
“Gosh I’m sorry B.J, I didn’t know you were right there!” She mumbled, and he took his hand off of her shoulder, and she almost complained at the loss of his touch.  
“Hey, no problem Sam. I did kinda sneak up on you there,” B.J chuckled, and his laugh rumbled through her, pooling a heat beneath her stomach. His presence was always a pleasure, the world seemed so much brighter to her when he was around, especially today.  
The suns rays managed to hit B.J perfectly, enhancing a glow to his skin and sparkling in his eyes. It was a little cold, and B.J looked very snug in what appeared to be a new blue coat and grey sweatpants that made him even more tantalising.  
He was cleanly shaven and perfectly put together, but he looked a little more tired than normal.  
“Is he allowed to go into your house?” B.J asked with concern, his eyebrows furrowing.  
She tries to speak, but her voice falters. She clears her throat and blushes again under his weighted gaze.  
“No, I let him go in. I bought him some toys when I was in New York.”  
B.J’s face changes into that of surprise.  
“You bought him stuff? You didn’t have to do that.” He almost seems concerned that she bought anything for Trey, but the truth is that she loves that kid. Sam had always dreamed of having a child, and Trey sometimes felt like her own. She was very attached to him, and the thought of anything bad happening to him made her blood boil.  
“No, I wanted to. He’s an angel. And I love seeing him happy, y’know?” Sam assures him with a wave of her hand.  
“Awh, well, that’s very sweet of you Sammy.” B.J smiles at her with warmth and the way he says her nickname sends her body into a frantic mess, scrambling around to get ahold of herself.  
There’s a couple of seconds of silence, where she just stares dreamily at B.J, eyes averting every time he tries to make eye contact with her.  
She wonders whether he really had missed her when she left, she had been gone for two weeks and they always ended up talking almost every day.  
B.J felt more like a good friend than a neighbour, and they had spent a lot of time together, talking about nothing and everything. He'd exceeded his neighbourly duties in that respect, they'd spent hours talking about their pasts on Sams sofa paired with beer and chips.  
They knew so much about each other, yet she still felt nervous when she saw him. The lust she felt for him was so raw and barely controllable, that she was afraid of messing anything up between them.  
She snaps herself out of her thoughts and readjusts her posture.  
“Would you like to come in? I was just making this herbal tea my mother gave me. It’s supposed to be a stress reliever or something.” She’s twisting her hands around awkwardly, anxiously awaiting his response and already predicting he’ll say no.  
“Yeah, that sounds good.”  
She breathes a small sigh of relief, shooting B.J a happy grin before traipsing inside with him at her heels.  
Sam takes a peek into the living room, feeling happy once she sees Trey contentedly playing with his new toys, making all sorts of strange and cute noises.  
Sam and B.J make their way into the kitchen, and he takes a seat at her table. Her kitchen is small, but in its own way cosy and inviting.  
B.J always liked Sam’s house, it was decorated heavily with knick knacks she’d picked up over the years from different countries she’d visited.  
Cheap multicoloured lights and tiny ceramic elephants painted with blues and purples, lined up in rows above her fireplace in an orderly fashion. The whole place smelt of vanilla candles, and was always warm and bright.  
His favourite decoration was this pink mouse adorned with flowers that sat proudly on her windowsill in her kitchen. It’s eyes were gleaming and seemed to follow B.J with this look of mischief, he couldn’t help but chuckle every time he saw it.  
He watched in amusement as Sam sashayed around her kitchen, humming under her breath and swinging her hips to the soft music playing from her stereo.  
B.J didn’t think she ever knew, but he had always cared for her in more than a neighbourly way.  
He would regularly see her wander around in her garden, tending to her plants and talking lovingly to her cat when she thought no one was watching.  
He loved the little things about her, the way her nose scrunched when she was concentrating, how she bit her lip when deep in thought, the way she would openly talk to him about everything, and then how she would get embarrassed when she overshared something.  
She was beyond sweet, and for that reason he only admired her from afar.  
B.J wished more than anything he had the courage to talk to her, but every attempt was shot down when she started babbling.  
He was usually quite confident with women, but something about Sam made him nervous, and he never pushed their relationship.  
He could never tell if she was attracted to him, he’d caught her a few times, watching him with mild interest. But every time he turned to look at her, she stared in the opposite direction. She was very shy herself, and that was part of why he liked her.  
She was a timid creature, and to B.J, she was precious.  
Sam pours the drinks and sits across from him, planting his cup next to his hand, but she was careful not to touch him.  
She took a sip and played with her hair, and the single movement had him infatuated. The way her fingers gently grasped the edges of her hair, the way she curled it around her finger was enough for him to want to reach out and touch her. But he doesn’t.  
“How was your family?” He inquired, drumming his fingers on the table cloth to distract himself.  
She scrunches up her nose and snorts, and her reaction was undeniably adorable.  
“Well, my family hasn’t changed. Still drinking excessively and complaining loudly about politics.”  
“Nothings changed? Wow... that’s stressful.” B.J raises his eyebrows and scratches his jaw. Sam watches him intensely before clearing her throat.  
“Yup. You would think some of them would have pulled themselves together by now, but no,” she sighs and B.J could tell there was something else on her mind, but he didn’t push it.  
“But Arizona? That must have been nice to be there.” B.J takes a sip of the tea, which tastes like dirt, but he keeps drinking so he doesn’t offend her.  
She sighs heavily, smoothing the creases on the tablecloth out with one swift movement.  
“Well, I mean, it was nice. It’s so warm there. But it was just so _lonely_. Like it didn’t feel right being there without sharing the experience with someone, considering the reception I got from my family.” She twists her mouth around and grimaces, staring hard at the table. “Sorry I’m like, bombarding you with my depressing thoughts.”  
“No, no, no. Don’t worry about that. You’ve been cooped up with your family for two weeks, you kind of need to talk about it,” B.J says reassuringly, a pitying smile growing on his face.  
Sam slowly lifts her head up and looks at BJ, her head tilted, and she watches him with this curious expression.  
“Thank you B.J.”  
The way her eyes observed him was enchanting. Her bright green eyes seem to pass over him longingly, glittering as the afternoon sun poured through the window. He could spend an eternity just staring at her eyes, they were gentle, yet piercing and every conversation with her was engaging as she was so expressive.  
She takes another sip of her tea and winces, placing the cup further away from her than necessary.  
“That tea tastes really bad doesn’t it?” She laughs as she speaks, and the sound is soothing to him.  
“Yeah, it’s really bad.” He laughs along with her and watches in delight as her laughter subdues into soft giggles.  
She licks her lips nervously and the action is enough for him to develop a deep desire to kiss her, and for just a moment, he considers doing so.  
“So... Trey said you missed me?” Sam remarked with sincere intrigue, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.  
“He said that?” B.J groaned, eyes widening in embarrassment. Sam nods, and he can tell she’s enjoying this far too much.  
“So you _did_ miss me,” Sam proclaims leaning back in her chair, her smile turning into a wide grin. B.J shuffles in his seat and tries to avoid eye contact. He draws in a breath and glances up at her, and she’s waiting for his response like her life depends on it.  
“He was right. I did miss you. You were gone for two weeks and I missed your company. You’re really great to talk to Sam,” B.J confesses. Sams face changes and she looks almost wistful.  
“Well I missed you too B.J. I really like talking to you as well,” she admits slowly, and she goes bright red. It makes B.J smile, that she’s embarrassed to say she missed him and a small light of hope grows inside him that maybe, just maybe, she likes him too.  
B.J’s fingers edge closer to Sams hand, brushing against her skin and she visibly shivers. But she doesn’t move away from him, she stays stock still, her eyes locked onto his with a yearning.  
Their fingers gloss over each other, desperately wanting to be closer, yet too afraid to proceed any further.  
Sam was breathing heavily through parted lips, chest heaving irregularly. Her palms felt sweaty, but B.J didn’t seem to notice. She craved more of his touch, her body was aching for it, her fingers curled around his and she dragged a breath inward.  
She leaned forward slightly, her chest above the table, and she was about to speak when Trey came rumbling around the corner, red bag in hand.  
“Look Daddy look! The dinosaur makes a noise!” He squealed in delight, jumping up and down and waving the toy directly in front of B.J’s face.  
Without thinking, Sam quickly withdrew her hand from B.J’s grip, earning a confused glance from him.  
She felt guilty about doing it, but she didn’t want Trey to see. He might get the wrong idea, and Sam couldn’t have him jumping to any conclusions at the moment. For everyone’s sake, but mostly for Trey. She loved him like a son, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to be a mother to him yet. Or, at least, for Trey to think of her as that.  
“Hey buddy! Wow, that is amazing! Have you thanked Sam for it yet?” B.J turns his attention to Trey, his hands placed on his shoulders and the way he looks at him in adoration gives Sam a fuzzy feeling.  
B.J was an amazing father, protective and loving and cared for Trey no matter what. Sam felt such an admiration for B.J being a single dad, he took on every responsibility by himself and she never once heard him complain about it in the year she’d known him.  
“Thank you Samantha!” Trey exclaims, pressing the button on the dinosaur repeatedly to listen to the raspy roar, and exploding into fits of giggles.  
B.J presses his lips into a tight line and pulls himself off of the chair, wrapping an arm around Treys shoulders before turning to face Sam.  
“I think we’ll stop pestering Sam and go home now ok bud? I think she’s very tired from her trip,” B.J says it flatly, almost like he’s upset about the earlier incident and Sam feels undeniably guilty.  
“I’ll walk you guys out.” Sam stands up and follows them both to the door and stands against the doorframe as they leave.  
B.J stops suddenly to crouch, and says something to Trey and he nods and goes home.  
B.J then sighs heavily and turns around, sauntering back over to Sam and leaning with one arm against her doorframe, his face extremely close to hers. So close, she can smell his cologne and see his big brown eyes narrow at her in a teasing manner. He seems to have forgotten entirely about the earlier incident.  
“Would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow? Trey has a sleepover and I thought I could make you some food to... thank you.” B.Js manner is suggestive and possibly flirty, the way he is casually leant towards her, open body language and the way he bites his lower lip gives Sams heart palpitations.  
The air around them feels like it’s crackling with electricity, and her thoughts feel like they’re hung out for B.J to see.  
Sam drags her thumb over the corner of her mouth and shifts her posture, watching him with a raised eyebrow.  
“That sounds great B.J. What time should I come round?”  
“Around six? That sound good to you?”  
“That sounds perfect. I can’t wait to see what you cook up for me,” Sam teases softly, brushing stray wisps of hair from her face and B.J seems captivated by her.  
“Mm. Well, don’t get too excited, I’m not great at cooking,” BJ jokes, his lips growing into a smile.  
“I’m sure the food will be delicious, no matter what,” Sam assures him, patting his shoulder without realising. B.J regards her touch with careful consideration, but before he can do anything else, she takes her hand back, placing it on her hip instead.  
“Bye Sammy.” B.J gives her one last look before pushing off of the doorframe and sauntering down the path again.  
Sam watches him enter his house before letting out a contained breath, exhaling nervously.  
A dinner alone with B.J? It’s Sams idea of heaven, and she plays out a million different possibilities in her head, all ending the same. With her and B.J making out on his scruffy sofa.  
She silently scolds herself for foolishly imagining them together like she was a desperate high school girl clambering for a boyfriend.  
But, after careful thoughts, that is exactly what she felt like around him. And in a weird way, it was refreshing.  
Sams grins and lets the warmth of the suns rays wash over her and for a moment, allows herself to imagine her night with B.J.


	2. Fine Wine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dinner date B.J planned for Sam ends up being quite eventful, in more ways than one...

# Love Thy Neighbour

  
Sam stands in front of her full length mirror, checking all the sides of herself, agonising over every detail possible in her outfit.  
She’s changed multiple times, from granny blouses to over the top formal dresses and every other option in between.  
She feels comfortable in her last outfit, an aquamarine dress that stops mid thigh, with loose sleeves and stitched with colourful flowers and black heeled suede boots B.J once admitted he really likes.  
Sam twirls around a couple of times and giggles to herself, watching in pleasure as the dress spins around her. Her adrenaline is running high, excitement bubbling to the surface and it’s clearly displayed on her face.  
A date with B.J. Well, not formally a date. To be honest, Sam doesn’t care what it is. She gets to have dinner _alone_ with B.J.  
She’s pulled her hair up multiple times, but nothing has worked, so she just lets hang loose and flow down her back in soft waves of honey blonde.  
She takes one last look in the mirror, sighing and smoothing her dress, praying silently that tonight would go well. She’s pretty sure nothing bad would happen, but there’s still that nagging feeling at the back of her mind, forcing bad thoughts up like old memories.  
Dabbing a spot of lipgloss on, Sam switches all her lights off and makes her way to her front door, locking it behind her as she leaves.  
She looks over to B.J’s house and holds back another smile, pressing her lips together and humming excitedly under her breath.  
The sky had begun to darken already, the sun nowhere to be seen and the air is frequent with chills already. She shivers and promptly makes her way over to B.J’s house, a skip in her step.  
She stops at the front door, holding her hand back from knocking. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, vanquishing all her negative thoughts in one fell swoop.  
“This night is gonna go great...” she whispers, opening her eyes and painting a smile on her face. And then she knocks.  
B.J is quick to answer, his footsteps heavy across the floor. He swings the door open, a rush of warm air escaping, and Sam stands there as gorgeous as ever a light blush already forming on her face.  
She wonders how a man as busy as B.J, especially with a kid, could be so perfectly put together. He was smartly dressed in a cosy looking blue sweater and dark wash jeans with brown brogues.  
“Wow, um... that’s... that’s- I think you... just wow Sammy. You look great,” B.J stutters, his speech all over the place, his eyes almost glued to her exposed thighs and he stands aside for her to come in.  
“Thank you B.J,” Sam feels so pleased with his reaction, her stomach does a somersault. “Wow, something smells amazing,” she says, taking a step inside, inhaling deeply and looking around. Sam notices it looks especially clean today, the usual stack of papers safely tucked away on the bookshelf and his messy pillows look clean. He must have tidied up for her.  
“I‘m making steak. You hungry?” B.J asks, coming up behind her and resting a hand on her elbow. She has to bite down on her tongue to stop an excited squeal escaping her lips.  
“When am I not hungry?” She says with a smile, and B.J laughs.  
“How could I forget? I’m talking to Sam Coleman here.” He guides her into the kitchen, hand hand on the small of her back and she feels her stomach leap.  
She can’t help but gasp when she sees how B.J decorated: a white table cloth, a bunch of tiny tea lights and perfectly matching dining sets.  
He’s gone all out, a bottle of expensive looking French red wine on the table and the lighting in here is dim. She can’t help but feel special, the atmosphere feels so much more romantic than a simple dinner between friends.  
“I’ll start frying the steak now. Would you like some wine?” B.J already has the two glasses in his hand, the bottle in the other.  
Sam shrugs and grins.  
“Why not?”  
B.J nods and pours her a glass, handing it to her.  
“Cheers,” he says, and the clink of their glasses ring out in the very quiet house.  
Sam leans on the counter watching as B.J gets to work on the food, cooking the steak in a wonderful range of fresh herbs, and they laugh as he attempts to dodge the spitting of the oil from the pan.  
He turns the stove off and collects the plates from the table and ushers her to sit down.  
“If you’d like to take a seat, I will serve up dinner.” B.J is already at the table, pulling out a chair for her to sit on.  
She slides onto the seat, and B.J tucks the chair under, and she can’t help giggling.  
“B.J where did you learn to cook like this?” she says, admiring the food as he places the plates down on the table with flair.  
The steak is perfectly cooked medium rare, with a side of steamed vegetables covered in rosemary butter.  
He screws up his lips and sits across from her, fiddling with his napkin.  
“I’m trying to cook more, I figured Trey needs more to his diet than microwave meals and my terrible cooking. Don’t get too excited though, I’m almost certain I’ve done something wrong here.” His lack of confidence for himself makes Sam feel for him, but she admires him even more for trying new things.  
“Don’t be too hard on yourself B.J, I’m sure the food will taste great,” she smiles at him reassuringly, reaching out to squeeze his hand.  
He looks a little taken aback at her sudden touch, and she quickly removes her hand from his.  
There’s a moment of awkward silence where Sam just picks up her knife and fork to eat. B.J watches her in suspense, eyeing her every reaction.  
She takes one bite and an explosion of flavour takes place and she hums appreciatively.  
“Oh my god, this is amazing B.J.,” she says, chewing away with a grin.  
“Really?” He cuts himself a slice and eats it, nodding along with her. “Yeah, this is pretty good actually, I’m impressed with myself here.”  
“How come I’ve never had your cooking before?” She asks with amusement, washing the food down with a sip of wine.  
“I was waiting until I perfected my skills as a master chef.”  
“Ah, that explains it.” Sam smiles at him, running a finger around the rim of her glass, letting her hair fall over her face.  
B.J clears his throat and continues to eat, stopping for a minute to make conversation.  
“So how did you get two weeks off for visiting your family? I would think it’s quite hard to do that, with you being a social worker and all.” B.J watches her with a heavy gaze, leant back in his chair listening with interest.  
“Oh, well, once I told them my mom was an alcoholic and she was going through a bad time,they were very understanding. I had some vacation days saved up, but I did do paperwork for the company while I was there though, filled out some forms and reviewed some cases. It was stressful enough being there already when on top of that I had to do the extra work. When I got there though my mom just ignored me, pretended like I wasn’t there even though I took the time off to look after her.”  
Sam recounts the memories with discomfort, the way her mothers disapproving looks cast a glum shadow over her. B.J interrupts her thoughts with a surprising question.  
“Why did you visit her if she only treats you terribly?”  
Sam doesn’t have to take long to think about her answer. It’s always there in the back of her mind, popping up every so often to reopen insecurities like they’re old wounds.  
“I feel like I need to take care of her, I just hope that one day she turns around and thank me for all I’ve done, recognises me properly. I guess I just want to be a better person than she was.” Sam sighs heavily, immediately feeling bad about ruining the atmosphere of the dinner.  
“Oh gosh B.J I’m sorry, I just completely brought this whole mood down. I don’t want to burden you with my life.”  
“Sam, don’t ever say that. I’m always here for you ok? You ned to talk about this stuff with me, it’s no use bottling it all up.” B.J sounds so sincere, his voice thick with concern. Sam feels so lucky to have him, he’s been her constant beacon of hope though all of this.  
“But that’s an extremely admirable quality. You have a really good heart Sam.”  
B.J seems genuinely in awe of her, Sams god heart had gotten her into a couple of troublesome situations, but B.J knows she only ever means well. Which is precisely why he feels so connected to her.  
The next few seconds of silence is broken by Sam, and her voice cuts through the air with a feeling of courage.  
“So... any ladies in your life?” Sam inquires, hoping it doesn’t look obvious she’s heavily interested in him.  
“Nah, none that are my type have popped up yet.” B.J plays with his napkin, occasionally glancing up at Sam, the warm orange light reflecting in his eyes. Internally Sams sighing dreamily, but she manages to pull herself together and concentrate properly.  
“Ah, the age old problem. So what is your type mister Bradley James?” Sam said in a mocking tone, wiggling her eyebrows at him. B.J shakes his head and chuckles.  
“You really want to know?” He leans back in his chair and smirks.  
“Yes, lay it all on me.” She shuffles in her seat and leans forward with her chin resting comfortably in her hands.  
B.J places his elbows on the table, watching Sam with an intense gaze, his eyes unmoving and only locked onto hers.  
“Hmmmm, my type. I think my type is someone who is kind and caring, who is willing to listen to me talk about whatever is on my mind. She is also someone who feels like she can share anything with me because she trusts me. She has a warm heart and cares for Trey and would be willing to do anything for him, no matter what. She would probably be a bit of a free spirit, have a colourful style, and a colourful personality. She would have to be a good friend of mine, someone I get along with really well. Someone I would have known for a long time...”  
B.J hasn’t looked away from her this entire time, his focus purely on Sam. She feels an indescribable feeling engulf her, like a warm sensation slowly growing across her body, setting off goosebumps on her skin.  
“Wow... that’s one hell of a type...” Sam whispers, rubbing a finger over her bottom lip.  
“I guess it is.” B.J doesn’t move, his eyes wandering over every inch of Sams face, taking in the slope of her cheeks and the shape of her soft looking lips.  
Sam almost feels naked. She feels like B.J just took her apart and laid everything about herself in front of her, but she’s so nervous at the prospect of hearing him admit to that she does what she does best. She babbles.  
“Hey, I’m sorry again about earlier, bombarding you with my troubled thoughts and such.” Sams quick redirection in topic takes B.J by surprise, and he visibly swallows hard, feeling like another opportunity to confess his emotions have been whisked away at the speed of light.  
“No, please, I like being able to talk to you about anything you’re struggling with. Besides, I can’t count the number of times I’ve shifted all my worries onto you, we’re friends. This is what friends do.” B.J says it meaningfully, but it hurts when it shouldn't.  
_Friends_.The word slices through her like a knife, and she feels all the hope she gathered up deplete in a single second.  
_Friends? Are you kidding me?_ B.J thinks, cursing to himself. He just threw all the possibilities of anything happening tonight away, like it didn’t matter. But it did.  
He felt like an idiot, cursing to himself and gritting his teeth. There was nothing he could do now, it was said and done and there was no way he could take it back.  
Not being able to live in silence with his thoughts, B.J jumps from his seat much to Sams shock, and he brings out a store bought cherry pie from the kitchen, which just so happens to be Sams favourite.  
“Time for desert,” he exclaims and cuts out the slices despite Sams frequent disagreement.  
“Aw, c’mon, you’re not gonna have any? I bought it especially for you Sammy,” B.J teases, waving a forkful of the pie in the air.  
“I can’t! I’m too full!” She protests, shaking her head while laughing at B.J’s look of disbelief.  
“I cannot believe that you Samantha, the ultimate lover of pie, will not take one single bite,” B.J chortled mockingly, “c’mon. One bite? For me Sammy? I did go all the way to buy this for you...” he trails off, watching her with a glint of mischief in his eyes.  
She pouts at him, the hold he has over her is crazy and she can’t help but give in.  
“Fine. But just one bite.”  
“Yessss.” B.J grins at her and holds out his fork for her. She looks at him hesitantly before leaning forwards and eating the pie from his fork, leaning back and holding her hand over her mouth while she eats and giggling when B.J watches her with intrigue, as if this was the most important thing in the world.  
He laughs along with her, a luscious velvety noise that filled her with joy from head to toe. His smile was captivating, she could just stare at him forever.  
But the moment is interrupted when Sam glances at the clock and curses under her breath, but it’s barely audible, B.J rarely hears Sam curse so it’s always a surprise when it happens.  
“I’m so sorry B.J, I have to go. It’s so late already and I have an early start tomorrow at work,” Sam gets to her feet, brushing the crumbs off of her dress, “tonight was lovely by the way. I really enjoyed it, thank you so much.”  
“Hey, no problem. Anytime. Maybe I’ll even try to make the pie next time,” he jokes away the huge feeling of disappointment settling in the pit of his stomach. He walks with her to the front door and she stops to turn to him.  
“I’d like to see that happen.” Her voice is soft, but B.J detects a hint of something else. Dismay.  
Her face says it too, the way the corners of her lips are slightly downturned and her eyes make her look like her brain is somewhere distant.  
She turns to reach for the door handle and he realises that he might not get another moment like this again, he has to make a move if he wants this opportunity.  
B.J reaches out and grabs her shoulder, gently pulling her closer to him as she watches him with surprise.  
She’s up to his chest now, his breath on her cheek and his hand in her hair, gently guiding her face closer to his. Her eyelashes flutter closed and her next breath leaves her body shuddering with desire.  
His lips are soft against hers, and she tastes unbearably sweet to him. He moves his hands down her back to rest comfortably on her backside and she hums in approval against him. Her arms trail up his chest to run around the back of his head.  
He pulls away from her to rest his forehead against hers and she is drawing shallow, ragged breaths.  
“Are you sure we’re still just friends B.J?” She murmurs quietly, giggling after she says it. He smirks and kisses her again, but she breaks the kiss, pushing against his chest and walking him backwards.  
“What are you doing?” He says with a grunt.  
“Fulfilling a fantasy.” She pushes B.J onto his sofa and sits in his lap, both legs straddling his waist. “Now shut up and kiss me.” B.J smirks and cranes his neck up to hers, pulling her in for a long kiss.  
They get more aggressive with each other, her hands grab fistfuls of his hair. His hands roam her body, sliding up her dress to stroke her bare thighs.  
They spend a couple of minutes like this, glued to each other and finally being able to express the passion they feel for each other.  
“Samantha, you better be staying the night goddam it,” B.J growls in her ear, gripping her waist tightly.  
“B.J, I’m not going anywhere tonight apart from your bed,” Sam murmurs in his ear, and her hands on his hips is enough for his patience to wear off. He slips her off of his lap and scoops her up in his arms and she shrieks before bursting into fits of uncontrollable giggles.  
Both B.J’s and Sam’s wildest fantasies were all coming true in one night, and neither of them could quite believe it.


	3. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks after their dinner together, Sam accompanies B.J to Trey's baseball game. She wants more from their realtionship, but does B.J feel the same way?

# Love Thy Neighbour

  
 **Two weeks later**  
“You excited for your baseball game Trey?” Sam craned her neck to look into the backseat of the car where Trey was sat on his hands, a huge grin lighting his face up.  
“It’s gonna be awesome!” He exclaims, bouncing in his seat, barely able to contain himself.  
“That’s the spirit bud!” B.J chuckles from the drivers seat, his eyes glued to the road, occasionally glancing over at Sam to smirk at her.  
Sam and B.J had grown even closer since their night together, stealing kisses when Trey wasn’t looking and snatching moments together. She’d even spent the night a couple of times, but had managed to leave before Trey saw her. But Sam was sick of hiding it, and she could tell B.J was too.   
They both wanted to take it to the next level and had discussed it thoroughly, but Sam was afraid of what Trey might think. And if it was maybe... too soon.   
But their friendship had brought them a long way together, and they already knew each other inside and out. What was the point in delaying the inevitable?  
Trey had a big baseball game at school with his team, and he practically begged Sam to come to it. She could rarely join his other games, her work often kept her busy and never got the proper chance to be there for one before.  
In her blinding excitement of being able to come with B.J and Trey, she baked way too many baseball decorated cupcakes, much to B.J’s disapproval. He usually brought the team snacks, but Trey confided in her that he brought terrible food, and Sam spent their entire conversation in fits of laughter at Trey’s seriousness.   
Trey pleaded with her to bring some of her baking, and she didn’t let him ask twice, getting to work right away.  
The box sat on her lap in pride, and she kept staring at it, wondering if there was anything that she possibly could have done wrong in the recipe. She knew she was just overthinking it, but she couldn’t help it.  
“And here we are. Ready to go Trey?” B.J interrupted Sam’s thoughts, turning the car engine off and unbuckling his seatbelt. He had barely turned around before Trey was already out of the door, bag in hand and running to start chattering to his friends who all gathered around him.  
B.J and Sam looked at each other with amusement and got out of the car to join him.  
The group of little boys stared at Sam from a distance, a confused expression all plastered on their faces.  
“Who’s that?” One red headed kid asked boldly, pointing at Sam with an outstretched finger.  
“That’s Samantha,” Trey explains, “she’s my neighbour and she’s really cool. She made us cupcakes.” Trey seems to stand taller, his chest swelling in pride, and all the boys gasped in shock and twittered amongst each other in excitement. They all run up to her and crowd around her.  
“Trey said you brought cupcakes,” the tallest one says, freckles dotting his nose and a lisp could be heard.  
Sam laughs, she’s only been here less than a minute and already they want food.  
“C’mon guys, give her some space. You’ll get your cupcakes when we all sit down and discuss game tactics.” B.J rubs his hands together gleefully and the whole group erupt into a chorused groan.  
B.J leads Sam and the group to the bleachers and they take their seats on the front row, sitting together with the parents.  
The children all quickly take a cupcake each, ignoring most of what B.J is saying as they insult his ability to bring good snacks and comment on how much they like Sam’s baking.  
B.J eventually gives up and comes to sit next to Sam, discreetly placing an arm around her waist.  
“I have something for you,” he grins and reaches into his pocket, retrieving a baseball hat with Trey’s team on it.  
“B.J that is fantastic,” she laughs as he puts it proudly on top of her head, placing his hand on her hip again.  
“It’s nice right? I had them specially made, thought they would be fun y’know?” He smiles approvingly at her and she pats his jaw lovingly.  
“I love it.”  
B.J’s posture shifts, and he seems concentrated on something behind her. Sam turns to see three women making eyes at him, all B.J’s age and supremely attractive.  
“Bradley, looks like you have some admirers,” Sam teases, but a knot of jealousy forming in her stomach.  
“Admirers? Nah. Besides, I only have eyes for you.” He flicks the tip of her hat with a grin and she giggles at him.  
“Stoppppp,” she drawls, smacking his hand away, “someone will see!”  
“Pfft. Let them.” B.J’s manner is suggestive, but she ignores it although she’s already blushing.

They’ve been sat on the bleachers for some time now, and have both taken the opportunity hold each other hands, drawing comfort from the other persons touch.  
Sam keeps getting looks from the three women she saw earlier, and by this point she’s convinced that they were all single moms with a strong crush on B.J, although he hasn’t seemed to notice them at all.  
She can’t help but shuffle closer to B.J, so that their legs are pressed next to each other, one hand grasping his bicep firmly. She sees one of the women, roll her eyes and she ultimately feels gleeful.  
They’re almost through the game, and it’s not good. Trey’s team is tied with the other and it hasn’t been going well so far.  
Sam feels for Trey right now, willing for something good to happen for him.   
Trey steps up to bat and everyone watches with their breath held in their burning lungs.  
He misses.  
Sam is clutching B.J’s arm so tightly and he has one hand resting on top of hers, and they’re staring intensely at the field, almost burning holes into the ground.  
Trey changes his stance, lifting his bat up, and just before he takes the shot, he spots Sam and B.J sat so close together in the crowd, looking panic stricken for him, and suddenly he feels confident.  
He swings.  
And he hits it.  
He hits it so hard it flies across the field so far that the other team is running in a frenzy for it, and Trey doesn’t notice because he’s speeding round so fast he’s kicking up dirt.  
Sam and B.J are stood up, screaming his name louder than other parent on the team, holding onto each other like their life depended on it.  
Their hearts are beating so fast, watching Trey slide round each base with ease and he gets to the end perfectly.  
Sam and B.J are jumping up and down at this point, arms around each other and everyone is looking at them with a bemused expression.  
But they couldn’t care less what anyone else thought. Trey had scored big time, and they were so proud of him.  
When everything finished, B.J and Sam ran to him with arms outstretched and almost crushed him in a double teamed hug. Trey laughed and hugged them back, gasping slightly for air and begging them to let go with an entertained grin.  
“Trey you were amazing out there!” Sam exclaimed, holding one of his shoulders.  
“We’re so proud of you buddy,” B.J laughs, ruffling his hair and watching his son recoil in embarrassment.  
“Daaaad,” he whined, looking around to see if anyone noticed B.J’s outburst of affection.  
“Sorry did I ruin your cred?” B.J teases and pinches Treys cheek. He swats his hand away with mock irritation, his frown twitching into a grin and Sam recognises a bubble of happiness in herself.  
One she didn’t want to let go of. She liked this, baseball games, acting like a family and talking about the future with B.J.  
It seemed like a familiar feeling to her, as if it had been there forever.  
B.J glances up at Sam to see a powerful look of what can only be described as belonging, it shone in her eyes and glowed against her cheeks. Her eyes wandered over him and Trey, her mind far from her body, somewhere distant yet also close.  
They made eye contact and he realised in that very moment that he wanted nothing more than to be a family with her, he wanted her around permanently.  
Not as a neighbour. Not as a friend. Not even as a girlfriend. He wanted more.  
He envisioned a future with her so great it was overwhelming. But, for now, he had to keep the feeling to himself. They needed time together to cement properly, for Trey to adjust to them.   
But B.J knew in his heart he could wait. He could wait as long as necessary, as long as Sam was there at the end of it all.  
“C’mon, lets go get pizza.” B.J pulls himself out of his thoughts and places his arm around Trey’s shoulders, the three of them saunter off together.

They’re sat in this little Italian restaurant hidden down a short street, the temperatures cranked up too high and coats are strewn across the back of the wooden chairs, and they’re all laughing like maniacs.  
B.J keeps giving Sam these looks, and she can’t quite figure out what he’s doing.   
Trey is minding his business, taking huge bites out of his pizza at a time and munching away across from them.  
Sam suddenly feels a hand on her leg and she looks over at B.J who is just taking a sip of his drink with his free hand, a smirk growing rapidly on his face.  
He has been getting more restless with her recently, reaching out to touch her more than often, sometimes for reassurance, but a lot of the time to tease her.  
Sam feels her heartbeat quicken as he strokes her inner thigh, softly and longingly, and a heat forms in her stomach. No one notices, but she’s already blushing intensely, her breathing becoming heavy.  
She feels her limits peak and she grabs his hand, shooting him a glare. He just smirks at her, and she feels both the urge to hit him and kiss him at the same.  
He moves his hand from under hers and runs it down her leg to give her knee a squeeze with a wink.  
She rolls her eyes and catches Trey looking at her with an estranged expression before he slides off of his seat and stands up.  
“I’m going to the bathroom,” he says slowly before plodding away.  
As soon as he’s out of sight, Sam turns to B.J and smacks his shoulder with a loud ‘thwack’.   
“Hey,” B.J says with a pained expression and a barely noticeable small smile, rubbing his arm where she just hit him, “what was that for?”  
“Oh really? You’re gonna play coy with me? Don’t give me that B.J, you know what that was for.” Sam crosses her arms, can’t stop the grin growing on her face.  
“Aw c’mon Sammy. Don’t pretend you didn’t like it,” B.J teases, tickling her sides. She giggles and bats his hands away from her.  
“Alright, I did-“  
He interrupts her with a satisfied snort. She narrows her eyes at him.  
“But Trey is right there!”  
“He didn’t notice.”  
“How do you know?” Sam raises her eyebrows at him.  
“I just do.” B.J rolls his head to the side, cockiness radiating off of him. She contemplates hitting him again, but she doesn’t.  
Instead, she grabs ahold of B.J’s shirt and pulls him really close to her face so she can stare directly at him.  
“Next time... save it for when we're alone,” she whispers, and B.J’s eyes widen. Sam feels a fierce feeling of power growing inside her, she brushes her lips against his, and he tries to kiss her, but she pulls away.  
“Aw c’mon Sam.” B.J looks sorely disappointed, leaning far back in his chair rubbing his jaw in frustration. She smiles sweetly at him and takes a sip of her drink.  
Trey comes back and eyes both of them with suspicion.  
B.J sighs and places his arms on the table.  
“You finished there bud?”  
Trey nods, he cleaned the entire plate up very quickly for such a small kid, but she’d seen him eat more than that before.  
So they pay their bill and make their way home, a smile playing on Sams lips every time B.J glances over at her.

**11:45pm- B.J’s Kitchen**  
After their third glass of wine Sam lets out a pent up giggle.  
“He knows B.J.”  
B.J knocks his head back with his eyebrows pressed together, tilting his head.  
“What? No he doesn’t.”  
“He so does. Did you see the way he looked at us in the restaurant? I’m telling you, he knows. Trey is a smart kid.” Sam swishes the wine in her glass around and B.J stares at the ceiling with a chuckle.  
“He sure is.”  
B.J stares at the ceiling for a couple more minutes and Sam watches him with interest. She places her wine glass on the table and leans forward to talk to him, her hand reaching for his. He looks surprised by her sudden touch, and turns to look at her.  
“I want us to be official.” Sams chest is heaving, and she’s not sure why. It isn’t like they haven’t talked about getting together properly over the past two weeks, and she doesn’t know where this sudden boldness is coming from.  
Maybe she’s sick of hiding, maybe she’s sick of still being so far from him. Whatever it is, she’s glad its there. It gave her the push she needed.  
B.J shifts to look at her, taking Sam’s hand in his and staring with love into her eyes.  
“I would love that Sammy.” He places a tender kiss on her hand and she breathes a sigh of relief.  
She can’t believe it. In a _relationship_ with B.J. Her heart feels like it could explode, this moment together could last forever as far as she was concerned. It was serene, quiet and beautiful.  
He watches her under the dim light of his kitchen, the light cast on her face makes her look like an angel. His angel. Finally.  
B.J leans over to her, pressing a searing kiss to her lips, hands in her hair as he tilts her head up to his.  
He places his forehead against hers and they chuckle together.  
There was nothing he wanted more than her, and she was his girl now.  
They pull away from each other, still clutching the other’s hands as if they let go they might suddenly lose each other.  
“When should we tell Trey we’re... together?” Sam asks, her heart beating faster as she even utters those words.  
“You guys are together?” Trey’s voice suddenly pipes up behind them and Sam flicks her head around, a horrified expression on her face.  
Trey stood there in his red striped pyjamas, scruffy hair and his hands firmly clasped together, awaiting their response.  
This was not how Sam wanted him to find out about them, an overheard conversation between two slightly tipsy adults in the middle of the night? Absolutely not. She wanted to sit him down and tell him slowly, listen to his thoughts on the matter.  
She waited for him to get angry at them for not telling him sooner, or upset because it was too soon.  
Instead, he ran over to them with his arms outstretched, pulling them together in a tight hug and laughing his head off.  
Sam was bewildered, in the best way. This was not the reaction she expected, maybe some questions about their relationship at the least. But he seemed genuinely really happy, and Sam couldn’t feel any better.  
Trey pulls back from them, a grin from ear to ear, and claps his hands together.  
“Yes! I thought it would take you longer, but I’m happy it hasn’t.”  
Sam feels her heart leap, he wanted them to get together? He wanted this to happen? She feels suddenly overwhelmed that he’s so glad, and almost starts crying. This is what she wanted so badly, to be a permanent part of Trey’s life, for him to accept her into the family with open arms. And he did just that.  
“You expected this?” Sams voice is low, a tinge of confusion.  
“Well, you spent more time together and you were always looking at each other weirdly. And you left Dad’s room really early in the morning a couple of times Sam.”  
“You knew?” B.J’s eyebrows were raised, his lips parted.  
“I told you,” Sam says, patting his shoulder and nodding as-matter-of-factly.  
“I owe grandpa a whole jar of butterscotch jellybeans.” Trey scrunches his lips up in annoyance and Sam shoots B.J a puzzled expression, he smiles and shakes his head at her.  
“What do you mean you owe grandpa jellybeans?” B.J leans forward to listen to his reply.  
“We made a bet.”   
Sam is taken aback. Even B.J’s father knew?  
“You bet on our relationship?” She feels a half-smile creep across her face, the whole situation is ridiculous.  
“Well, just how long it took you to get together. And let me say, you win award for slowest people to become a couple.” Trey stands there with his arms crossed, a disapproving look on his face.  
Sam can’t help but relieve a chuckle, and B.J joins her, shaking his head.  
“So are you staying here tonight?” Trey’s expression is innocent and B.J shoots her a smirk, patting her hand on the table. She looks at him with a raised eyebrow.  
“I would love that Trey.”  
He grins and gives Sam a last hug before snatching a chocolate bar and running back upstairs.  
Sam looks back at B.J and he looks extremely baffled by the whole situation, he scoffs and takes Sam hand and standing up.  
“How about it my beautiful girlfriend? You want to sleep next to me tonight and not sneak out tomorrow morning?” B.J’s face is smug, and his tongue darts out to lick his lips.   
Sam watches him with a lopsided smile and takes his hand to stand up.  
“Of course. Provided I can snuggle you the whole night.”  
“Oh baby, we can do a lot more than snuggle.” B.J wiggles his eyebrows and Sam rolls her eyes, pulling him really close and kissing his cheek tenderly.  
“As long as I have you, I’m up for anything.”  
“Me too Sammy. Me too.”


	4. Cherry Pie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, B.J and Trey pay a visit to Sally, Kid and Henry. It’s Sam’s first time meeting B.J’s parents, and she feels beyond nervous. How will they react to her?

# Love Thy Neighbour

**Two weeks later**  
Sam casually brought up meeting B.J’s parents in a conversation they had one night, a few days ago.  
She’d been frequently staying over at his house, making waffles that ended up tasting overwhelmingly of cinnamon and Trey teased her for it, she was taking up a section of his wardrobe and sharing a steamy shower with B.J on a morning.  
It was perfect and fresh to Sam, she never felt alone and neither did B.J. They’d spent their entire lives searching for a feeling of peace; a home.  
In the end they found each other and it was beautiful.  
They were in his room one night, the bedside lamp casting a yellow glow throughout the room and the smell of Sam’s lavender moisturiser lingered in the air. Her skin felt extra soft to B.J and he couldn’t help but press kisses to every inch of her body when she clambered into bed, earning snippets of giggles from Sam, and they finally settled down next to each other.  
Sam was snuggled into his bare chest in a nightshirt, taking comfort from his presence and enjoying the heat of his touch while he played with locks of blonde hair.   
They’d been talking about Trey and how he was doing at school, if they should maybe get him a tutor for a little extra help in maths. Sam suddenly changes the subject:  
“Maybe I should meet you parents.”  
The sentence surprises B.J immensely, they’d only been dating for a couple of weeks and already she wanted to meet them?  
“Really?” He turns his head to look at her and she smiles at him, a gently caressing his jaw.  
“Yeah, really. I’ve known you for over a year now, and besides, we would have to do it at some point considering we’re _dating_.” She says the last word with a grin, her face lighting up as if the thought of them being together still excited her.  
“As long as you feel comfortable, then of course.”  
Sam hummed in approval and let her head drop back onto his chest again.

**Two days later**  
They’ve pulled up to Sally’s house Trey in the backseat engaged heavily in his tablet, and B.J parks the car, turning to face Sam next to him.  
“You’re not nervous are you?” B.J asks Sam with concern, glancing at her from his seat in the car, noticing her wringing her hands anxiously.  
She sucks in a deep breath and looks at B.J, his face was riddled with worry and his eyes were frantically searching for hers.  
“No I-“ she cuts herself off, seeing B.J’s look of disbelief and readjusts her posture to face him. “Yes. If I’m honest, I’m nervous. How can I not be? I’m meeting your family for the first time!”  
“Sammy, there’s nothing to be worried about. They’ll love you, I know it.”  
“But what if they have this grand expectation of me? And I don’t live up to it? What if I’m boring?” She trails off, a horrified expression on her face and B.J can’t help but smile at her, grasping her hand in his.   
“Samantha Coleman, you are the very least boring person on this whole planet. In fact, you’re so un-boring, I could literally listen to you talk all day. You make anything sound like the most exciting thing in the whole world. You’re an unbelievably kind woman with a sparkling personality and no one could ever find you boring. Ok?” He searches for her eyes, pulling back her hair to look at her. She presses her lips together and nods, a hesitant smile forming slowly.  
“Thank you B.J.”  
“Alright then. Let’s go meet my parents.”  
He turns around to shake Trey out of his trance and they all get out of the car together. They stop at the door and B.J gives Sam one last reassuring look before entering the house.  
It was everything she expected and more, the whole house was warmer than anywhere else she’s ever been, the heat difference from outside to inside was drastic and in a way cosy.  
The walls were crammed with childhood scribbles and uncomfortable school photos, it was a proper family home.  
You had your classic ‘what makes a mother’ placard, and the odd drawing of a superhero.  
If she had ever wanted a typical family home before, it was this one. It was inviting and friendly and everything she had ever pictured having as a child.  
She was deprived of that.  
“Hey ma! We’re here!” B.J yells, sliding his coat off and tossing it on the coat rack.  
A pitter of footsteps could be heard and two figures make their way round the corner, erupting into choruses of happy hollers upon seeing them stood there.  
“B.J!” An older, short looking man with small eyes and a screwed up mouth makes his way over to B.J, pulling him into a hug and patting him on the back as they laugh in unison.  
“This is my dad, Billy-“ B.J begins, but the man cuts him off, extending a worn hand to Sam.  
“Call me Kid.” She shakes his hand and he smiles at her and is just about to speak before the other man standing next to Kid steps forward to shake her hand too.  
“I’m Henry. And you are...?” He trails off, warm eyes looking at her in question. She knows immediately that this is B.J’s moms newish husband. They got married about six months ago in Spain, it was more of a spur of the moment thing for them because B.J assures Sam he would have invited her otherwise. He has a habit of clarifying every decision he makes with Sam in case she ever takes offence, not that she would, but it’s kinda sweet.  
“Uh, Samantha. But everyone calls me Sam.” She shakes his hand and smiles as confidently as she can at him, but the sudden prospect of new people is daunting.  
There is a string of gentle gasps from the other end of the corridor and Sam peeks around Henry’s shoulder to see a woman, presumably B.J’s mom making her way towards them.   
“Oh we’re so glad you arranged this sweetie,” a soft-haired, blonde woman with pale skin and kind eyes steps forward and hugs B.J too, turning to pinch Trey’s cheeks and watch in amusement as Trey squirms under her grip muttering “grandma!”.  
She steps back from them and turns to see Sam stood there awkwardly, and her eyes widen in muffled surprise.  
“Is this her?” She looks at B.J, gesturing to Sam wildly.  
“Yes Ma. That’s her.” B.J looks proud as he sees Sally’s reaction to Sam, and he stands a little taller, a goofy grin spreading on his face. “This is my Mom, Sally. And this,” he moves to stand next to Sam, an arm sneaking around her waist,” is Sam. My girlfriend.”  
Sam’s heart skips a beat in her chest, the thudding against her ribcage got louder and her breathing slowed. _Girlfriend_.  
“Hi Sally. It’s so wonderful to meet you finally.”  
Sam almost feels obligated to shake her hand, but before she can do anything Sally is standing in front of her in less than a second.  
A warming smile grew on Sally’s face, and she placed her hands on Sams shoulders, staring at every detail in her face.  
“Look at this beautiful creature! Shame on you B.J for hiding such a lovely woman from us for so long!"  
Sally hugs Sam tightly, and she’s surprised by the sudden show of affection, her eyes widening before placing her hands on Sally’s back. Sally steps back, holding Sam’s hands to look at her fully.  
“Aww.” Sam doesn’t know what else to say, she just stands there and shuffles her feet uncomfortably, watching B.J face turn sheepish from an angle with her face half-hidden behind her hair.  
“Sorry Ma. I should have done this way earlier, but Sam and I... we weren’t together back then.”   
Sally scoffs and shakes her head, turning to face Sam.  
“I can’t tell you how nice it is to see you Sam! You know, B.J never stops talking about you,” she says it with a grin, casting a mocking look to him, “he was always talking about you. Even when you weren’t a couple.”  
“Ma...” B.J whines, an embarrassed expression growing on his face and he grips Sam’s waist tighter.  
“Is that so?” Sam giggles, turning her attention to B.J, but he’s carefully avoiding eye contact with her with an awkward smile on his adorable face.  
“I can account to that.” Kid crosses his arms across his chest and rocks back and forward on his heels. “This guy would not shut up about you in the year since you met him. I don’t know what took him so long-“  
“Ok, we get it. We all know that I took my time asking her out, can we just... move on please?” B.J says it almost like he’s annoyed, but Sam can see the corners of his mouth twitching with amusement.  
“Sure thing sweetie. Just know I’m never gonna let you live this down,” Sam strokes his jaw lovingly and bursts into fits of giggles. B.J pushes her hand away and steps back, a smile playing on his lips.  
“Sam you are next level evil. I want you to know that,” he grins, pointing at her before folding his arms across his chest.  
“Alright, alright. Once you two have stopped flirting, I have a roast dinner in the oven and something is going to burn very quickly if we leave it any longer.”  
Sally beckons everyone into the kitchen and they all help with the food.

 

Dinner has gone very well so far, Sam makes polite conversation and finds that she fits quite well into the dynamic of their family, making jokes and thoroughly discussing her job. It’s nice for once, no small talk or endless debates on random things, just good conversation.  
Sam quickly finds that Sally is possibly the mother she had always wanted. She was kind and gentle, and it surprised Sam how interested Sally was in her. Genuinely curious about her hobbies and the places she’d been, listening to her talk with consideration. It was strange, a response she had never gotten from her own mother, and it made her love Sally even more.  
“So, I hate to be the one guy who asks the question, but how did you two meet?” Henry asks, placing his elbows on the table and leaning forward.  
“I already told you-“ Kid begins.  
“Do I look like I’m talkin’ to you? I’m asking them, you idiot.” Henry shakes his head and the whole table laughs together.  
“You tell them, besides, I want to hear it from your perspective.” Sam pats his shoulder and B.J shakes his head, a smile growing on his face.  
“Ok, so whats the date? August the 14th last year-“  
“You know the date?” Kid asks, surprise ingrained into his face.  
“What are you talking about? Of course I know the damn date. Anyway, it’s a crap day, it had been raining for the past few hours and I’m convinced by this point that that’s all it’s gonna be like for the rest of the day. Then this movers truck rolls up, right behind this silver Toyota. And this beautiful woman gets out-“  
“We’re talking about Sam here right?” Kid teases, a playful grin.  
B.J throws a piece of carrot at him.  
“Could you shut up and let me tell the story? So this beautiful woman gets out, long blonde hair curled along her shoulder, yellow dress despite the weather, and a cardboard box in her arms. She starts unloading all of her stuff out, along with the men driving the moving truck. They finish up and leave, but they didn’t help her get any of the stuff inside, left it all outside on the damp pavement. And then it starts raining again, and she looks so panicked. Starts frantically throwing all her stuff inside, but she’s struggling with getting her wardrobe to budge. So I walk out and I say ‘miss, do you need any help?’ And she says, ‘no, I was just thinking of leaving everything out here to soak up the rain’. She makes eye contact with me and I swear, it stopped raining at that very moment. At that precise moment. And I knew, right there, that she was the woman for me. Everything was so picture perfect and I was convinced that was a sign. That’s why I memorised the date.”  
B.J looks triumphant after finishing the story, a hand over Sam’s on the table, and she feels a wide grin grow.   
“That’s a lovely story,” Sally says, hands clamped together and a sappy expression on her face.  
“If you like sickly sweet stories like that then it’s a nice story,” Trey pipes up, his eyes darting around the room with a glint of mischief.  
“Oh right? Is that what you think then?” Sam tickles Trey’s sides, earning gasps and giggles from him.

 

Having finished the main meal, Sally promptly brings out a photo album. She declares that there are very embarrassing pictures inside, accompanied with terrorising stories of B.J’s childhood.   
“No, no, no. Ma, stop,” B.J complains, rolling his head back.  
“Please Sally, continue. I want to see this pictures,” Sam giggles, poking B.J’s side playfully.  
“I’m gonna say it again Samantha; evil,” B.J nods his head once, eyebrows raised.  
“Oh stop. There is nothing wrong with taking a quick peruse through your childhood Bradley. There is nothing to be ashamed of,” Sally states, opening the first page with flair, a gleeful grin painted on her face.  
B.J slams the cover shut and pulls the album close to him, Kid at this point is in fits of laughter with Henry.   
“First of all, Ma, there will be nothing quick about it. Second, there is absolutely, one hundred percent, everything to be ashamed about. In that album contains some of my darkest secrets.”  
“Oh, darkest secrets huh? Now I have to see that,” Sam teases, snatching the album from B.J, leaning away from him and flicking through, landing on a page filled with pictures of two-year-old B.J dressed up as a fairy, wearing little more than a pair of pink wings. His face is covered in glitter, a crazed grin from ear to ear.  
Sam can’t help but start laughing like a maniac, holding her hand up to her mouth to stop herself from snorting, but she manages to do it anyway.  
“You dressed up as a fairy?” Sam manages to say between giggles, the more she looks at the photos the funnier it gets. “But you’re such a macho man B.J.” She punches his shoulder softly  
The look on his face is priceless, a mixture of horror and amusement. He attempts to reach for the album but Sam moves away from his grasp in time.  
“Oh, I would hardly call it ‘dressing up’ dear. He’s naked in those pictures. Well, apart from the wings,” Sally chortles over the rim of her wine glass.  
“Of all the damn pictures...” B.J grumbles.  
“You know,” Sally says, leaning forward onto the table and looking at Sam directly in the eye, “there is a story to this.”  
“Ma, come on,” B.J groans, his shoulders slumping in defeat.  
“Let me tell the story B.J. Then I promise, no more of us torturing you.”  
B.J sighs, waving his hand in the air for her to continue. Sally nods.  
“So when B.J was about two, he had this obsession with fairies. I’m pretty sure it came from one of those cartoons he would always watch, and every so often after he would strip all of his clothes off and put on those wings, running round the garden butt naked, screaming. It was the strangest thing. He wanted to fly so badly as well, I have never seen a child so determined in my life.” Sally shakes her head, nostalgia pure on her face like Sam had never seen it.  
A couple minutes pass and they laugh together, poking fun at B.J.   
“Oh! I almost forgot!” Sally springs out of her chair, breaking into a run to get into the kitchen.  
She returns, pie in hand. Is that...?  
“Cherry pie,” Sally declares, placing it onto the table proudly, “B.J told me it was your favourite a while ago so I tried to make it. I think it turned out pretty well actually.”  
“We’ll see...” Henry whispers to Kid, Sally catches them and throws a balled up napkin at him. They all burst into laughter and Sam starts feeling an ache in her chest.  
The fact B.J told her, how she remembered, how she _made_ it for her? It was hardly a grand gesture, but for Sam it was. The fact she had gone out of her way to make it for Sam was a big deal, no matter if it was out of politeness or not.  
“Thank you Sally,” she almost whispers, her voice low and all she can do is stare at the pie in front of her.  
“Aw, no problem hun. Anything for the amazing woman dating my mess of a son,” she jokes, but to Sam it means a lot.

They’re clearing all the plates away, everyone else in the kitchen, and B.J pecks a kiss to Sam’s cheek, watching her with a tilted head.  
“You doing alright? You seem a bit quiet.” He strokes her jaw and she lets out a soft sigh, relaxing in his touch.  
“Yeah I’m fine. I just... I really like your family. No, I love them. They’re great B.J and... I just wish I had a family like that...” she smiles at him, but the weight of her sad eyes on him is enough for B.J to realise how she feels right now.  
He feels a strong sense of pity form in his stomach, and he wraps his arms around her frame, bringing her close to him. Her shoulders drop and she presses her face into his neck, determined to keep herself in his life for as long as possible.  
She doesn’t want this to end. This pure feeling of belonging and she had the strong need to be a part of a stable family, who love and care for each other.  
He steps back from her, one hand in her hair and the other on her waist. He catches Trey watching them from the corner, an unsure expression pasted on his face.  
“Hey buddy. You wanna show Sam the birds nest in the backyard?” He brings his attention back to her, and she seems relieved at his suggestion.  
“Come on Samantha!” Trey gallops up to her and grabs her hand, tugging at it impatiently. Sam shoots B.J a thankful expression before turning away and disappearing outside.  
B.J makes his way into the kitchen, a skip in his step.  
“Sam is a wonderful girl,” Sally states from the sink, a bowl covered in suds in her hand. Henry and Kid grunt in agreement.  
It takes a few seconds for what B.J feels in his heart to form words, for the need to tell someone what he wants to be said aloud.  
B.J turns to face the three of them, leaning back on the counter, his elbows propping himself up.  
“I want to marry Sam. And I know it's soon, we've only been dating for a a month, but I've known her for over a year now and I don't think I've ever been more sure of something before in my life.”  
He felt a weight lift off of his shoulders, as if saying it made it real. Concrete.  
It was true, more true than B.J could ever imagine it to be.  
The room was silent, not because they disapproved, no. Quite the opposite. They approved of it wholeheartedly, all three of them.  
The look Kid gave B.J was, at first, shock. The same with Sally. It developed into something more, love. His eyes watered slightly and he blinked fast, a warm smile spreading across his face. Kid would never admit to becoming emotional, and in fact, he rarely does. Which made the reaction all the more special.  
Sally chokes up, wiping away a tear and Henry rubs her shoulder.  
Kid closes the space between them and is the first to pull B.J in for a hug, patting his back and they chuckled together. Sally crosses the room quickly and joins the two of them, Henry followed suit.   
They step back and Kid holds a firm grip on BJ’s shoulder, a stern look in his eyes.  
“I’m so happy for you son. You couldn’t have found a better woman for yourself if you tried. But listen here, she is one in a million B.J. And from what you’ve told me about her and from how I see you two looking at each other, do not let her go son. She loves you, I can see that. And you love her too. Whether you’ve admitted that yet I don’t know,” B.J smiles and shakes his head, Kid raises his eyebrows at him a perplexing expression forming, “that doesn’t matter anyway. All you have to do is keep her by your side B.J. I’m gonna repeat this; but do not let her go son. Promise me that.”  
“I promise.” B.J’s chest suddenly feels tight, a mixture of nerves and excitement brewing.  
“Oh my darling, I couldn’t be any happier for you sweetheart. You found a beautifully kind woman who obviously cares for you and Trey and- god, I’m just so happy for you.” Sally bites her lip and throws her arms around B.J again, rocking back and fourth as B.J chuckled with her.  
“Well done B.J. You have found what I found in your mother.” Henry pats B.J’s shoulder and smiles encouragingly at him.

Sally Kid and Henry all wave goodbye to the three of them as they leave, a growth of hope in their hearts and pride in their chests.  
“So how long you think it’ll take for him to propose?” Henry says, eyes still glued to the car as it disappears into the distance.  
“I wanna say before New Year,” Kid replies, jutting his chin out.  
“Before New Year? Seriously? I would say after.” Henry wrinkles his nose up and playfully elbows Kid’s ribs.  
“Oh will you two stop it? They’re happy together and that’s all that matters.” Sally smacks the both of them over the back of the head, a grin playing on her lips.  
“Whatever you say darling.” Henry smiles at her mockingly and she shakes her head at him.

B.J and Sam were getting ready for bed, Trey was asleep and B.J was lying in the duvet, the soft glow of the candlelight accentuating his features.  
“Hey, hey, hey, look what I still have,” Sam exclaimed, stepping back from the wardrobe and spinning around, giggling as she went.  
B.J lifts his eyes from his phone to see Sam wearing the yellow dress he first saw her in over a year ago. It fits her perfectly, the lace against her skin makes her almost glow and it takes him right back to when they first met.  
His breath gets knocked out of his chest so quickly he almost chokes. He puts his phone down and slowly pulls himself off of the bed, placing his hands on Sam’s waist and drinking in the beauty he saw before him, thankful that she was his.  
Sam hums approvingly, placing a hand on the side of his face and searching for his eyes.  
“You’re perfect,” he murmurs, pulling her close to him and brushing his nose against her face.  
“Thank you, you’re not so bad yourself mister,” she teases, pressing a kiss to the bridge of his nose, she attempts to pull away from him. B.J grabs her waist again and brings her face to his, eyes filled with love.  
Sams lips are parted slightly, and he sees the way the candlelight flicker across her face, it drives him crazy.  
“Sam...” he whispers, reaching to place a hand in her hair, his touch gentle.  
“I love you B.J,” she blurts out, but she doesn’t look regretful saying it. In fact, she looks bold and unapologetic. And it makes his heartbeat quicken.  
At first, he’s surprised, his lips beginning to form words. He takes a little sigh of relief and rests his forehead against hers with a wide smile.  
“I love you too Samantha.”


	5. Diamonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam has B.J’s friends over to watch the game and B.J gets a surprise call from Kid. How will they react to Sam? And what does Kid want?

# Love Thy Neighbour

It’s a Friday night, Trey is doing his homework in his bedroom and B.J is having his friends round to watch the game, which game exactly, Sam isn’t entirely sure.  
“Hey yo Sammy, come meet the boys!” B.J hollered from the hallway, Sam was in the kitchen feeding her cat Tigger, who has started to live there now. He eventually started following Sam over to B.J’s house, and much to B.J’s disapproval, now sleeps comfortably on the sofa, spreading a layer of cat hair on the cushions.  
Sam takes a quick breath and smooths down her cuffed, white blouse and makes her way into the living room, where all the boys are already seated and laughing amongst themselves.  
They all look up at her, eyes widening in surprise and disbelief. B.J walks over to her and presses a kiss to her cheek, turning back to his friends and holding her waist close to his.  
“Everyone, this is Sam. Sam, this is Landon. He’s terrible with money and can’t make a joke to save his life,” he gestures to a chubby guy with long-ish black hair and a long beard.  
“Hey! Not cool!” Landon laughs and shakes his head.  
“This is Andy, proud father and husband, although he spends more time looking at his hair in the mirror than he does with his family.”  
“That is an unnecessary attack, true, but unnecessary,” Andy scolds B.J with a wide grin. He looks like a straight up model, chocolate skin and long dreads pulled into a ponytail, soft brown eyes and is probably one of the tallest people Sam has ever met.   
“And this... this is Evan, resident the failure of his family.”  
Evan brushes off the light-hearted insult and rises to his feet, he’s gorgeous, and no doubt charming, with perfectly styled hair and grey eyes. He reaches out to shake Sam’s hand, holding it a bit longer than necessary.  
“My, my. B.J finally grew a pair and asked you out. Never thought I’d see the day where he had the beautiful Samantha on his arm,” he chuckles, his eyes wandering over Sam and almost making her blush.  
“I’m... flattered?” Sam giggles and B.J clutches her hip tighter, his lips in a firm line.  
“Well you should be, B.J talked about you for so long and I just can’t believe he didn’t ask such a such a stunning woman like you out sooner.” Evan smiles at her warmly, stepping closer to them.  
“Hey, hey, hey Evan. Back your ass up, this is my girl,” B.J growls, a smile growing on his face, pushing him back a couple of steps.  
Evan raises his hands up in the air and shakes his head.  
“Chill man, just giving Sam the proper welcome she deserves.”  
“Uh huh. Sure,” B.J mutters, raising his eyebrows.  
“Well, I have some snacks and beer in the kitchen if you want anything.”  
There’s a chorus of mumbled excitement and Sam smiles.  
“I’m assuming that means yes.” She makes her way into the kitchen and as soon as she’s out of earshot a discussion starts.  
“What the hell dude, you never told us she was that hot,” Landon blurts, a look of shock painted on his face,  
“Hey, that’s my girlfriend you’re talking about.” B.J flops onto the sofa and rolls his head over to look at Landon, a small feeling of glee shining in his chest. He feels so proud, not only of Sam being his girlfriend, but Sam herself and the person she was. She always seemed to light up the room wherever she went and left everyone she met starstruck. Maybe it’s because of how much he had talked about her to pretty much everyone he met that left them with a desire to meet her in person, and she always exceeded everyone’s expectations.  
“Sorry, I just can’t believe you guys are together. Like, she’s such a cool girlfriend. And she’s bringing us beers and shit? You’re so lucky man, most people would kill for a girl like that.” Landon shakes his head apologetically, but B.J doesn’t feel annoyed at him. Landon has good intentions but what he usually says can sound rude, but their group of friends had grown to accompany his awkwardness.  
“Bradley James, I think you found yourself some wife material,” Andy chuckles to himself, a wide smile on his face.  
“Nah man, our boy here is never gonna settle down.” Evan lightly punches B.J’s shoulder and grins at B.J.  
“And why is that?” He replies with amusement, curious to hear what he has to say.  
“You’re too much of a pussy to ask her to marry you,” Evan responds jokingly, earning a swift smack to the stomach from B.J. He groans and clutches his stomach, rolling to the side in pain.  
“Is that right Evan Fredrick? Too much of a pussy huh?” B.J teases and all of them laugh in unison.  
Sam returns to the room, confusion plastered on her face, her brows furrowed as she watches them with suspicion.  
“Um, I have your beers. B.J told me which ones you like so I got those and, like three bags of doritos. And I made these...” Sam produces a huge amount of food and places it all on the coffee table, along with homemade pretzels with cheese dip, pigs in blankets and veggie samosas.  
“Woahhhh, what the fuck. B.J, you better keep Sam here close to you.” Landon shifts his eyes from the food to Sam and back again.   
All of them reach forwards for various snacks and beers and between the munching she can hear what sounds like words of gratitude.  
“C’mere baby. Thank you.” B.J beckons Sam to him and she walks over to stand above him. He gives her a smug look before he pulls her into his lap and she squeals in surprise. He starts peppering kisses all on her face while she giggles in embarrassment and squirms in his arms and they all laugh.  
“Stoppp B.J, you sappy idiot,” she shrieks and attempts to wriggle out of his grip but he just holds her tighter.  
“Hey c’mon guys, I’m tryna eat over here,” Evan says, his voice muffled by the amount of food he has crammed into his mouth.  
“If you don’t like it you can leave,” B.J says with a grin, placing another wet kiss on Sam’s cheek.  
“This is nice and all babe, but I’ll go and leave you to it.” Sam pulls herself off of B.J, and his hand trails over her arm as she leaves.  
“Hey, aren’t you going to watch the game with us?” Andy inquires, watching her with interest over his bottle of beer.  
Sam stops in her tracks and is taken aback, she didn’t expect any of them to want for her to sit with them for long, let alone watch the game with them.  
“I just assumed you wouldn’t want me to interrupt your ‘man time’ or something.” Sam wrings her hands, awaiting their response.  
“Hey guys, Sam doesn’t know much about sports so we don’t have to make her watch it if she doesn’t want to.” B.J takes a swig of beer and wipes his mouth with one hand.  
“What? No of course I want to. Especially if it’s important to you B.J,” Sam assured him, her hands frantically gripping the sides of her blouse.  
B.J is surprised himself, he never had many girlfriends who took an interest in what he loves and would take time out of their life to sit down and watch a game with him.  
“C’mon Sam, we don’t mind you being here. We won’t bite... unless you want us to,” Evan grins and B.J glares at him, elbowing his ribs with considerable force.  
“You’re like, the first chill girlfriend B.J has ever had,” Landon chimes in.  
“Well, when you put it like that, I guess I have to stay,” Sam laughs.  
“Come and sit with me babe,” B.J pats the space next to him, a narrow gap between him and Landon, but she goes to sit with him anyway. She cuddles with her head in his shoulder, body pressed right up against him.  
“You want a beer?” Andy asks, hand on a bottle already.  
Sam smiles to herself. “Sure, why not.”  
They erupt into a cheer together and Andy cracks the bottle top off and hands her the beer and she sits back to relax with them.  
“I love you Sammy,” B.J whispers into her hair and a faint smile grows on her face.  
She spends most of the game in a constant state of confusion, as she hardly understands any sports things at all.  
She asks a lot of questions too, and she worries that she might seem annoying to B.J, but really he finds her incredibly sweet.   
He also loves the way her face wrinkles up when she’s confused, her eyebrows furrow and she bites her bottom lip softly. She looked so adorable, and he had to refrain himself from making out with her the whole way through the game.  
The fact that she sat down to watch it and is trying her best to work out how it works means the world to B.J.

After the game finishes, Sam disappears upstairs to help Trey with his homework, which he’s still struggling with, and B.J sees his friends out.  
Once Landon and Evan had made their way outside, Andy comes and stands next to B.J, a hand on his shoulder.  
“We all saw it tonight, those two might not have said anything but I will. You guys clearly love each other, and I’m very happy for you. You’re a lucky man B.J, you got an amazing girl for you. I think you have with Sam what I have with Penny,” Andy confesses, a look of genuine pride in his eyes.  
Penny is Andy’s wife, they’ve been together since they were very young and have three kids together. Their love is probably the strongest love B.J has seen in his life.   
They hardly ever fight, they constantly support each other and are a powerful couple that work together to tackle any problem.   
Their relationship is always something that B.J aspired for, and for him to say something like that was heart-warming.  
“Thanks man.” B.J smiles, a burst of happiness in his chest.  
“Anytime.” Andy pats his shoulder one last time and walks down the path from the front door, turning back to wave at him.  
“You better treat her right!” Andy hollers, a grin plastered on his face.  
“I will!” B.J replies, shaking his head and going back inside.

The following day at one o’clock in the afternoon, B.J gets a call from Kid. He sounds excited, and kind of out of breath.  
“Listen B.J, I know you told me you wanted to marry Sam a little while ago, but I think I found the perfect jewellery store, to get her ring from. You gotta get out here son.”   
“Are you being serious?”  
“You kidding me? Of course I’m serious, I wouldn’t joke about stuff like this.”  
“Alright, tell me the address and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” B.J scrambles to get his coat, scribbling down the address and pulling on his shoes as quick as possible.  
“Hey, where are you going?” Sam comes down the stairs and stands against the wall in the hallway.  
“Kid needs me to go through some paperwork with him at the bar, idiot forgot to pay last months bills.” B.J’s quite good at lying, and he doesn’t think they’ve gotten to that point in the relationship where Sam can work out if he’s telling the truth either.  
She screws up her lips and pushes off of the wall, pecking a kiss to his lips.  
“Don’t be too long ok? I thought we could have dinner together tonight, Trey said he wanted to eat fried chicken so we’re going to cook that.”  
B.J feels another glow of appreciation for Sam bloom, and he felt so glad Sam was part of his life.  
“Sure thing babe.” B.J pulls her waist close to his and presses a long kiss to her lips, the other hand stroking her hair. “I love you Sammy.”  
She chuckles and strokes his jaw, her eyes staring deep into his.  
“Love you too. Now go help your poor father out with his bills.” She smiles at him and pulls away.  
“Bye Sammy.” B.J races to the door and stops to look at her one last time, her arms by her sides and a tender and caring look on her face.  
He smiles at her and closes the door, walking up to her car and sliding into the drivers seat.  
The drive there isn’t long, Kid is waiting for him outside the store with a smug expression on his face.  
“What?” B.J asks as he steps out of his car onto the pavement.  
“Oh... nothing. I’m just pretty proud of myself for finding this store.”  
“I bet you are,” B.J mutters. “Wait, how did you find the store?” B.J cranes his neck upwards to read the sign ‘Jenny’s’ in white italics.  
“Come on in and I’ll tell you.” Kid beckons for B.J to follow him.  
The doors swing open and immediately B.J feels worried.  
First of all, he doesn’t know what kind of ring Sam would like. He imagines she’d like something simple, but he doesn’t want to choose something she would end up hating. Secondly, he doesn’t think he even has half of the money for some of theses pieces at the moment, from what he can see, there’s a lot of zeros on these price tags.  
“Ever since you told me you wanted to marry Sam, I’ve been looking for a perfect place to get her ring, because that woman deserves perfect and nothing less. She’s such a hard-worker, I want her to have something worth treasuring.” Kid wanders around the store with B.J in tow, confused as hell at every piece of jewellery he passes.  
“You’re not wrong with that Kid.”  
“Of course I’m not wrong. I’m never wrong. And I’ve been married three times, so listen here son, I know what I’m doing.” Kid turns to look at him with sincerity, eyebrows raised. B.J chuckles at him and looks back at the rows and rows of glass cases filled with a whole assortment of gold, silver and a variety of diamonds in different shapes and sizes. They glitter against the glass cases, casting spectrums across the room.  
They spend a little while walking around the store and B.J stops for a second, staring hard at a particular ring.  
It’s a simple design, silver band encrusted with tiny diamonds, a larger, square diamond sat in the centre of the ring.  
B.J can’r believe it, he’s almost one hundred percent positive that this is the right choice.  
“This one.” B.J points at it through the case. “I’m sure that this is the ring she would want.”  
Kid stands next to him, admiring the piece.  
“Nice choice son.”  
It takes a few moments for B.J’s eyes to wander over to the price displayed, and he sucks in a quick breath.  
“Kid, I can’t pay for that. At least, not at the moment. I’d have to save up.”  
Kid leans against the case with one elbow, a raised eyebrow directed at B.J.  
“I’m paying for it.”  
Shock, at first. That’s what B.J felt. Shock, then gratitude.   
“Are you... no you can’t pay for that I-“  
“No, no, no. Stop it. I’m paying for it and that’s final. She deserves the best B.J, I’m willing to pay for this ring. She has had such a hard life B.J, she has had a lot of struggles and I am confident that you can be there for her more than anyone else can. Let me do this, for you, and for her.” Kid already has his wallet out, and he has this look in his eyes that conveys that he will not take no for an answer. And, quite frankly, B.J doesn’t want to deny him this. It looks to B.J that this would mean a lot to Kid, for B.J to let him help out.  
“Just... thank you.” B.J sighs a breath of relief and pulls Kid in for a hug.  
“No problem son.”  
The ring in a bag, they exit the store, B.J’s spirits are high and he has a smile on his face.  
“So when are you gonna pop the question?” Kid inquires, head tilted to the side in question.  
“I don’t know. I might just leave... like a little bit of time? Don’t wanna scare her.”  
Kid chuckles. “Not much can scare Samantha. I doubt she would turn you down either. You guys have something special, something I haven’t seen for a long time. She loves you too much to say no.”  
“That’s a little bit of the problem. I wanna leave some time for us to cement our relationship I guess? The thing is, we already know each other so well, there isn’t much else to learn about each other.”  
Kid scoffs and shakes his head, placing a hand on B.J’s shoulder. “Son, there is always something to learn about your partner. That’s the beauty of a relationship. It’s a learning experience, and a constant opportunity to discover something new about the person you date. I’m just glad you have Sam to do that with.” Kid looks off into the distance, obviously reminiscing about a past memory or feeling.   
He manages to shake himself out of it, turning back to face B.J.  
“You gonna move in together properly anytime soon?”  
The question catches B.J by surprise, he hadn’t really considered moving in together that much.  
“I think if we were going to move in together that we should maybe buy a house. I want her to have a secure life. But we can’t do that without Trey’s permission first.”  
Kid nods his head. “I respect that. But Trey loves that woman like a mother, I’m telling you. He talks about her and the stuff they’ve done together a lot whenever I see him, so I think you’re good on that front.”  
A couple of seconds pass and it hits B.J that he found the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with. He found his forever, and he feels it’s crazy that this ever happened to him. It feels like not that long ago where he had met Sam on that rainy day, if he told himself back then that over a year later he would be stood with an engagement ring already bought he wouldn’t believe it. He still can’t believe it, even now, where his future resides in a paper bag in his hands.

Sam was baking chocolate chip cookies in B.J’s kitchen on Sunday morning, a smudge of flour across her chin, when B.J suddenly suggested something surprising.  
“Maybe we should get a house together.”  
It was casual, the way he said it. He was resting his elbows on the counter, watching her knead the dough with an intense gaze.  
Sam slowly stopped what she was doing, her shoulders dropping slowly and she wiped her hands on her apron. B.J moves his eyes up to meet with hers, a gentle look of sincerity.  
She struggles to find words, not because she dislikes the idea of it, only because she’s surprised beyond all belief.  
“Are you... are you serious?” Her voice is raspy, her breath pushing against the stray wisps of hair in front of her face.  
“Of course I am. I mean... it’s not like you have to... god I- I- this is too soon isn’t it? I’m sorry.” B.J sweeps his arms off of the counter and drags his hands down his face with an uncomfortable groan.  
“No, no, no!” Sam rushes around to B.J, pulling his hands from his face and grasping his jaw tenderly. “Hey, hey. Look at me. B.J look at me,” Sam demands softly, searching for his eyes. He turns his head to look at her with a mournful expression. “I would love to, honestly. With all my heart. To have a house with you and wake up every morning next to you would be my idea of heaven. There’s just one thing... what about Trey? What if he doesn’t want that?”   
Sam chews the inside of her cheek, anxious in more ways than one. The possibility of living together properly felt so tantalisingly close, just in reach. But she had to put all of that aside, for Trey.  
“The fact that that’s what you think first thing makes me even more sure that you are the most perfect human being. But, you’re right. We can ask him, see what he thinks of it. But you know he loves you right? I don’t think I’ve seen him this happy in a while actually, having you as a figure in his life has changed him dramatically. And I’m not just saying that because it’s what I want to believe, it’s true. You heard him sing around the house the other week right? He hasn’t done that since, his mom, Nancy left. Sam... I think getting a new house together would be good, not just for us. But for him. You’re someone who has been there for him constantly and treated him properly, and for that, I love you more than I already do.”  
B.J’s hands are in Sam’s hair, his eyes felt like they were staring straight into her soul, and she almost starts crying. He smiles at her and presses a soft kiss to her lips.  
“Are we going to get a house together?” Trey’s voice is soft behind them, and they both whip around to see him stood there sheepishly. B.J groans and drops his head forwards.  
“Trey, you have _got_ to stop eavesdropping on our conversations,” Sam scolds, hands frantically gripping the sides of her apron. Trey’s expression doesn’t change, instead he steps closer, almost more bold.  
“You were talking about getting a house together.”  
He doesn’t look angry, just... curious.  
“It’s not an official thing, we’re not going to do it if you-“ B.J begins.  
“If I don’t want you to?”   
Sam lets out a sigh and nods her head.  
Trey breaks into a run and collides with both of them, wrapping his arms around them in a hug and giggling.  
“Yes, yes, yes!” He exclaims, breaking away from the hug and bouncing up and down with a wide grin.   
Sam and B.J look at each other nervously before they start chuckling.  
“Does that mean you want us to move in together?” Sam says hesitantly.  
“That’s a silly question Samantha,” Trey states, folding his arms across his chest and rolling his head to the side with a lopsided smile.  
“C’mere bud.” B.J outstretches his arms and the three of them stand in the kitchen huddled together with huge grins.


	6. New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and B.J move into a new house together, but Sam has her doubts about it.

# Love Thy Neighbour

**One month later**   
Sam, B.J and Trey are on their way to visit their fifth house, with Sam in the drivers seat. Every other house they’d seen before that had been a failure, and at this point Sam was willing to give up.  
They hadn’t been a failure in the sense that they were bad houses, none of them seemed to fit what they had wanted and none of them really grabbed Sam’s attention, or anyone else’s for that matter.  
Sam pulls the car up outside the house and immediately loves it to pieces. It has a bright red door, white picket fences and a perfectly manicured lawn. It was in the perfect neighbourhood, closer to Trey’s school too.  
She exits the car and stands still at the edge of the pavement, watching it with her arms folded across her chest. B.J stands next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders.  
“You alright?” He murmurs into her hair, tilting his head in an attempt to try and get a look at her face.  
She pulls her coat tighter around her and nods, leaning into him slightly.  
“I’m fine. Actually, I’m great. I have a really good feeling about this one.”  
“Me too.” B.J studies the house closely, his eyes glued to the building.  
“Hey, where’s the estate agent?” Trey pops up to the side of them, standing next to Sam.  
“That might be him now.” B.J gestures to the car parking next to theres and a tidy looking man steps out and walks over to greet them.  
“I’m presuming you are the family looking at house number seventy-eight here?” He glances at them hesitantly, gesturing to the house in front of them.  
“Yes, that would be us. I’m B.J, this is Sam and my son Trey,” B.J greets the man warmly, reaching to shake his hand and Sam does too.  
“I’m Marcus, nice to meet you. Would you like me to show you around?”  
“Yes please.” Sam is eager to take a peek on the inside, hopefully it looks as good as the outside.  
“Right this way.” The estate agent makes his way up the front pavement and unlocks the door, and the three of them follow suite.  
It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom had an en-suite and the kitchen was generously sized with gorgeous marble countertops and an island in the centre. The living room was huge, accompanied with a built in red brick fireplace. It had great potential, Sam could already picture how it would look, how all the furniture would fit in.  
It had a repurposed garage, which B.J had already claimed for working out in. And it had a garden. A wide, open-spaced garden with a greenhouse already built in and a cherry blossom tree in the corner. It was truly magical and Sam couldn’t be any happier with it.  
“So, what do you think?” Marcus turns to them as they stop in the living room, waiting for their response in anticipation.  
“I don’t think I’ve said it about any of the houses we viewed before, but I love it.” Sam turns to B.J a hand on his chest, staring deeply into his eyes with a wide smile painted on her face.   
“I feel the same way here. And it’s surprisingly well within our budget. What do you think Trey?” B.J turns to Trey, whose stood with his face almost pressed against the window, watching the blossom tree at the end of the garden.  
“I love it too. When can we move in?” He peels himself away from the glass door and looks back at them innocently.  
B.J chuckles. “We have to buy it first, bud.”  
“Oh yeah.” Trey stares down at the floor. “How soon will that be? This is my favourite so far, I want to put all of my stuff away in my room, I already call dibs at the bedroom at the end of the hall upstairs.”  
“I think we have our answer babe.” B.J turns his head to face Sam, a grin playing on his lips.  
“I think we do.”

**Another month later**  
The three of them are piling the last of the stuff into their cars, B.J driving with Trey and Sam alone in her silver toyota.  
Sam managed to catch her orange tabby cat, Tigger, and after a good few minutes of him fighting it, she managed to get him in his cage and secure him in the backseat.  
“Did you catch your ogre of a cat?” B.J comes up next to Sam and wraps an arm around her waist, planting a wet kiss on her forehead as she giggles.  
“B.J, that is my animal son you are talking about there.” Sam pokes his chest playfully and he laughs at her.  
“C’mon guys!” Trey hollers from B.J’s car in front, honking the horn and leaning out the window.  
B.J and Sam chuckle and she pecks a kiss to his lips.  
“We should go or he might just explode,” Sam says.  
B.J shakes his head and gives Sam’s hip a reassuring squeeze before walking off, calling over his shoulder: “See you at the house babe!” with a smug expression.  
Sam opens her car door and leans against it as she takes one last look at her old house.   
She feels a sense of loss at leaving her little yellow house behind, after all it is where she first met B.J, where they had established a close-net friendship. It’s the place where she had spent so much time gardening, where she felt safe and had spent so much time with Trey.  
She adopted Tigger in that house and had to listen to all of B.J’s insults about how he looked, that he had scraggly hair and a snaggle tooth.  
It’s where she fell in love with B.J.  
But that was her old life.  
Now she can begin her new one.  
Her new life was golden with new possibilities, and butterflied flitted around her stomach just thinking about it. She was able to provide a safe and stable home for Trey now, do everything for him that she never got from her own childhood. Her relationship with B.J was taking the next level, and she saw a glimpse of her potential future at the back of her mind.  
It was peaceful and fulfilling, they would spend all day together, laughing and joking and raising Trey together. Having breakfast in bed, taking Trey to school and helping him with projects, rushing to get to work on a morning with a coffee in hand, being greeted by B.J when she got back to her warm home with macaroni cheese and soap operas, a kiss to the cheek.  
And Sam quickly realised that she was picturing herself married to B.J, not that it was a weird thought, they had ended up talking about marriage on more than one occasion. But it was just... a fragile thought. Something so wondrous and blooming with eternal love.  
She shook her head and pushed the thoughts away, blushing under the winter sun and cursing at herself for being foolish.  
She slid into the car, took a deep breath and turned on the ignition. She gazed sadly at her old house as it got further and further away from her in the rearview mirror, just a shimmer of the past and the person she once was.

The house was exactly the same as the last time she saw it as she pulled her car up outside.  
It was almost surreal, not just the house, but the situation itself. Moving in with B.J and Trey, fully committing to their relationship and the family bonds she shared with them.  
It was perfect.  
She remembers the first time she saw it, after they had spent so much time fruitlessly searching for the perfect home only to find nothing. And when they saw this house it just clicked.  
They spent the next few days moving furniture and unpacking boxes, getting settled in and greeting the new neighbours, who were surprisingly pleasant.  
B.J and Sam were stood in the kitchen, paint sample slips in hand, arguing over what colour the walls in the kitchen should be.  
“I’m not letting you paint our kitchen pink,” B.J stated, folding his arms across his chest.  
“I didn’t say I’d paint the kitchen pink! I just said I think it would be nice if it was a bright colour, it would just lighten the place up a bit.” Sam rolled her eyes and leant against the counter.  
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”  
“And why is that?” Sam raised an eyebrow at him and he scoffs.  
“It might not look right. That’s all I’m saying.” B.J raises his hands up in the air.  
They stare at each other intensely for a couple of moments before hearing the footsteps of Trey coming around the corner.  
He stops dead in the doorway upon seeing Sam and B.J in an intense staring contest.  
“What’s going on?” He asks innocently, padding up to them and looking at the paint slips on the counter.  
“We’re trying to decide what colour to paint the kitchen honey.” Sam ruffles Trey’s hair and throws a glare at B.J.  
“Sam and I can’t choose one we both like.”   
Sam’s mind jumps and she suddenly gets an idea.  
“Why don’t you choose a colour Trey?” She places her hands on his shoulders and leans to the side to look at Trey.  
B.J mouths ‘what?’ at Sam with a flicker of panic crossing his face.  
“Ummmm...” his lips twitch in concentration as he flicks through the papers. He finally chooses one, placing his finger on a soft yellow colour.  
“That one,” he says proudly.  
Sam slowly rakes her eyes over to look at B.J, a look of triumph on her face.   
“Are you sure about that one buddy?” B.J leans on the counter and stares hard at the colour Trey chose.  
“Yep.”  
Sam makes eye contact with B.J and she sticks her tongue out at him and he shakes his head at her, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.  
“That’s a good choice,” Sam says approvingly.  
“Can I go now?”  
“Sure bud.” B.J pats Trey’s shoulder and he leaves the kitchen at a speedy pace.  
“Looks like we have the colour,” Sam says smugly, feeling extremely pleased with herself.  
B.J shakes his head at her, a smile playing on his lips. They spend a few more minutes talking in the kitchen before Trey comes bounding round the corner again, this time a ball of fluff in his arms.  
“Look what I found in a box next to our house! It’s a girl!” He exclaims excitedly and Sam couldn’t believe her eyes.   
Before her was a black and white husky, no more than three months old, with ice blue eyes and a terrified expression, shivering from being in the cold.  
“Oh my goodness,” Sam cooed, taking it from Trey’s arms and rocking it back and forth. Being the animal lover she is, she never missed an opportunity to cuddle any sort of pet.   
“Oh, here we go...” B.J groaned, “could we not bring that inside the damn house? It might have fleas or something.”  
“Oh, stop! _She_ doesn’t have any fleas... or a collar...” Sam slowly brings her eyes up to look at him, pouting her lips.  
“Oh no. No, no, no. We are not keeping _it_.”  
“Please, please, please dad?” Trey pleads, his hands clamped together.  
“C’mon babe. We can at least take her to the vets and check for a microchip.” Sam strokes the dogs face lovingly, and it tugs at B.J’s heartstrings.  
He heaves a sigh, caving in. “Fine.”  
“Thank you dad!” Trey shouts, throwing his arms around B.J.  
“But I’m not making any promises,” B.J states, grabbing his car keys, “let’s just go now and get this over with.”  
Trey gallops along with them clapping his hands together in glee.  
Forty minutes later, they’re having the dog scanned for a microchip.  
“Doesn’t appear to be anything here...” the vet comments, concentrating on her laptop in front of her, “and no missing dog reports either. She’s definitely a stray.”  
Sam glances at B.J and he shakes his head.  
“What should we do with her?” He inquires, folding his arms and rocking on his heels.  
The vet examines the dog again, changing her posture to prop herself up on the examination table with her lips pursed. “We can take her in and give her to the dog pound and hope she gets adopted. Or... I could give her the necessary injections and you can adopt her yourself. It’s your choice, I’ll give you a minuet to decide.” She smiles warmly at them before leaving the room.  
“I mean, getting a dog was not a plan. But it wouldn’t be an entirely bad thing either...” Sam suggests, trailing off and watching B.J’s expression change dramatically.  
B.J struggles to find a reason against it, opening and shutting his mouth a couple of times. “Well what about Tigger?”   
Sam scoffs. “Tigger was a stray for most of his life. When I adopted him he’d already spent the majority of his time with other dogs, so that won’t be a problem.”  
“Dad I’ve wanted a dog for so long and you promised you would buy one. I promise I’ll walk it and feed it and clean it,” Trey begs, his eyes pleading with his dad.  
“It would teach Trey some responsibility and discipline too.” Sam stroked the dogs head with a soft smile on her face. Trey peered over the edge of the examination table to watch her too.  
The dog seemed calmed by Sam’s touch, closing her eyes and yawning widely, sprawling itself out.  
B.J couldn’t help it, he felt cornered. But seeing the two people he loved care so much for a small furry animal pushed him over the edge and he threw his hands up in the air.   
“Ah, what the hell. Why not?” He grinned and Trey squealed and hugged him, startling the dog. Sam pressed a kiss to his cheek, placing an arm around his waist and laughing into his chest.  
“We’re gonna need food, bowls, a bed, toys and some treats too!” Trey’s eyes lit up and he jumped up and down excitedly.  
“This is gonna cost me an arm and leg,” B.J groaned, rolling his head back.  
“It’ll be worth it though.” Sam smiled at him and he pressed his face into her hair.  
“I hope so.” He paused for a minute and looked at the dog, she stared right back at him, icy blue eyes wide with wonder. “We keep the dog... on one condition. I name her.”  
“No, dad! You’ll name her something stupid.” Trey pouted, folding his arms.  
“Nah, c’mon,” B.J protests. “Steeler. I was thinking like the Steelers, after the Pittsburgh football team?”  
Sam opens her mouth and then promptly shuts it. “You know what? That isn’t actually that bad of a name.”  
Trey watches them with narrowed eyes and slowly unfolds his arms.  
“That sounds cool.” He spins around and pets the dog on the table, who at this point is beyond confused. “Steeler. Do you like that name?” He watches her with curiosity, resting his head on his propped elbow on the examination table. Steeler sneezes, causing Trey to jump back in surprise while Sam and B.J chuckle at him.  
“I think she likes the name dad.”

Sam and B.J are setting up the kitchen in preparation for the paint, moving everything out of the way while Trey takes Steeler on a walk around the neighbourhood.   
Sam is dressed in denim overalls with her hair in a loose bun and B.J is dressed in a pair of old sweatpants, but Sam has doubt creeping into the back of her mind. After a couple of minutes of her sighing and pouted expression, he catches on that something is wrong.  
“Sam, what’s up? You’ve been looking depressed for the past five minutes.” He turns to face her from his perch on the ladder, one arm steadying himself against the top rung.  
Sam looks taken aback by his question, and she stops while her brush is still on the wall  
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to... I just feel so worried that this was a mistake. That maybe we are moving too fast. I... what if... what if Trey grows up to hate me? Because I jumped to quickly into our relationship or because I pressured you into buying a house with me... or that I-“  
“Stop it. Stop it right now,” B.J commands, jumping down from the ladder to stand in front of her, hands on the sides of her face. “Don’t ever say that. Ever. Trey could never hate you Sam, he loves you too much. And you never pressured me into buying a house together, that was my idea. Ok?” He looks for her eyes, but she averts his gaze, tears brimming in her eyes.  
“I don’t want to disappoint him...” she trails off, biting her bottom lip and clenching her fists until her knuckles turned white.  
“Sammy no.” B.J feels his heart shatter in his chest and he pulls her into his chest for a hug, his arms tight around her frame. “You could never disappoint Trey. He loves you. Don’t you see that? He admires you so much, and you do so much for him.”  
“But what if your parents think-“  
“Sam. Listen to me.” B.J pulls back and grips her shoulders. “Do you love me?”  
“Yes.” Sam wipes her eyes, breathing heavily.  
“Do you love Trey?”  
“With all my heart.”  
“Then that’s it. That’s all we need, that’s all he needs. You would never hurt him or me, and we both know that. Everyone knows that. Everything is great Sam, there is nothing to be worried about. We have a beautiful house in a lovely neighbourhood, a new dog, Trey is happy, I’m happy because I have my beautiful girlfriend and everything is perfect. You’re perfect.”   
B.J cups Sam’s chin and tilts her head up, looking directly into her eyes with the gentlest of gazes. She cracks a smile and B.J lets out a smile sigh of relief.  
“There’s my girl.” He strokes her chin and presses a soft kiss to her lips.  
“Thank you B.J. I love you so much,” Sam murmurs, closing her eyes for a second.  
“I love you too. How about we paint this kitchen huh?” He grins and she nods.

Seven hours later and Sam is sprawled across B.J’s chest on their sofa in front of their open fire, her eyelids drooping closed with a happy sigh. Steeler is curled up next to B.J, her head resting on his arm as she yips in her sleep.  
B.J is already half asleep, a spatter of yellow paint across his face, and soft snores echo in the living room.  
Trey bounds in from outside, stopping dead in his tracks. He silently tiptoes over and pulls a blanket over the two of them and Sam mumbles something incoherent.  
He steps back, proud of himself, and happy that two of his favourite people in the world were getting some rest, finally.


	7. Cookies and Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas time at the house, cookies have been baked and it's snowing, but Sam ends up with a troubling surprise.

# Love Thy Neighbour

**One week later**  
Sam was baking Christmas tree cookies with Trey in the kitchen, the smell of spices and cinnamon hung in the air.  
Sam bustles around, smoothing down her her ‘Mrs Claus’ apron and re-shuffling the pans in the cupboard. The kitchen is growing more and more on her everyday, she spent a lot of time organising it with B.J and the paint job took longer than anticipated, but she was glad it was done before Christmas.  
“Those look really good Trey!” Sam comments as he splats icing on their baking, overloading the sprinkles on top.  
“These ones are for Mrs. Patterson at school. Do you think she’ll like them?” Trey watches Sam with an engaged expression.  
“Of course she will honey! I think it’s very sweet you’re making her cookies.”  
Sam smiles encouragingly at him, her heart swelling with pride at the fact he was such a sweet child, B.J raised a perfect angel.  
Steeler trots into the kitchen, planting her backside on the floor and watching Trey intensely. He notices her and a grin grows on his face.  
“Do you want a cookie girl?” He whispers, patting her head lovingly.  
Sam turns around and places her hands on her hips, and Trey stopped what he was doing, cookie hanging in the air as Steeler glared at it with anticipation.  
“Trey...”  
“C’mon Samantha! She’s so skinny, we need to put weight on her! And besides, how can you resist that face?” He pleads innocently, and Sams eyes pan to the dog, watching the food and almost whining to be fed.  
“I was just going to say that you shouldn’t tell your father, he wouldn’t approve.” Sam grins and Trey’s face lights up.  
“I won’t.” He promptly hands the cookie to Steeler, who attempts swallows it whole, coughing as she struggles to eat it. She manages to swallow it, but Sam and Trey laugh away at her, as Steeler looks at them with a scarred expression, eyes wide.  
“What are you two laughing at?” B.J enters the kitchen after working out in the garage, heavy breathing and sweat glistening off of his skin, loose grey sweatpants and a tight black tank top.  
Sams almost chokes up at how good he looks, covering her mouth as B.J watches her in confusion, an amused smile growing on his face.  
“We’re um... just making cookies,” she announces, taking her spot across from Trey at the centre island and attempting to busy herself, catching Trey muffling his giggles as he gazes at Steeler.  
“Yeah dad... just making cookies.” He grins and continues decorating.  
“Mm hm. I like the apron by the way.” He gestures to Sam and she suppresses a giggle. B.J takes a few steps forward and snatches up one of the delicious goodies, taking a huge bite, spraying crumbs everywhere.  
“B.J! Those are for Trey’s teacher!” Sam scolds, poking his chest playfully. B.J smirks and continues eating, attempting to speak with his mouth full.  
“These are good.” He hums in approval and Sam rolls her eyes.  
“Of course they’re good, I made them after all. With Trey’s help of course.” Sam turns to Trey, leaning on the counter and he salutes her, icing on the corner of his mouth.  
She narrows her eyes at him and he hastily wipes his mouth, chuckling nervously.  
“Well thank you very much, my two talented bakers.” B.J places a sweaty arm around Sams waist and pulls her close to him, planting a wet kiss on her forehead.  
“B.J! Stop it, you’re all sweaty!” She giggles, smacking his chest and he just smirks, gripping her tighter and places kisses all over her face as she retaliates.  
“Ewwww you guys!” Trey groans, snatching a cookie and running out of the room, Steeler following at a speedy pace behind him, yapping after him.  
Sam and B.J chuckle to themselves as he leaves.  
“If you want to do something useful, go set up the lights outside with me.” She places a hand on his hip, dragging her eyes up to meet his. He heaves a sigh and rolls his head to the side.  
“I’ll cut you a deal. I put the lights up, you shower with me afterwards.” He places his hands on the small of her back, lowering them to rest on her backside as he wiggles his eyebrows at her.  
She takes a quick glance around the kitchen for Trey and turns back to him with a small smile on her face.  
“Deal,” she whispers, placing her hands on his shoulders and standing up on her tippy toes to press a kiss to his lips.  
“Let’s go.” She pulls off the apron and runs into the corner of the kitchen, where she placed the lights. “The stepladder should be in the hallway. Could you be a sweetheart and get it for me on the way out?”  
He breathes heavily through his nose and she smiles sweetly at him, batting her eyelashes.  
“Please?”  
“Anything for you dear,” he jokes, and they traipse outside together, B.J grabs his hoodie on the way out.  
B.J sets the ladders up and climbs up to string up the lights, Sam holding the ladder and directing him.  
“No, no. To the right a bit more.” She watches from below, her hands on her hips.  
“That’s the third time you’ve said that,” he grunts, but still does as she asks.  
“Sorry! Just a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this stuff.” She clasps one of her hands to her chest as he grunts in effort to hand the lights correctly.  
There’s a sudden hissing noise, and Sam turns to see Tigger bolting towards them from across the street, an aggressive looking chihuahua snapping at his heels from behind.  
Tigger bounds up the ladder, sinking her claws into B.J’s clothing to support himself, hissing ferociously at the small dog who is bounding around Sam’s ankles and yapping its head off.  
“Ah! Get him off me!” B.J yelps, climbing down the ladder as quickly as he can to stand in front of Sam, Tigger clinging to his hoodie desperately.  
“Hold still!” Sam giggles, trying to pry his claws from the fabric. Tigger just sinks his claws further, causing B.J to jump forward, swiping at his back to get the cat off.  
“Fuck! Ow, ow, ow! Stupid cat!” B.J hisses and Sam tries her hardest not to laugh.  
“Charles! Charles, come here!” Mrs. Nicholson, their elderly next door neighbour comes outside, calling away her chihuahua, and it scampers off.  
“Hello Mrs. Nicholson!” Sam calls out, giving her a friendly wave as she attempts to remove Tigger.  
“Hello Samantha! Really, you should call me Jenny.” She smiles warmly at Sam, picking up her dog and watching them struggle.  
“I should have just run over that cat when I had the chance,” B.J grumbles as Sam successfully pulls Tigger off, cradling him in her arms.  
He said it relatively quietly, but Mrs. Nicholson still heard him, her mouth widening in horror as she clutched her dog close to her chest.  
“Oh, Jenny, that was a joke. I was joking.” B.J desperately tries to cover up his mistake, but the damage was already done, and Sam clamps a hand over her mouth to stop her giggles from escaping.  
“Well, good luck with your lights. And thank you for helping me with moving my sofa the other day.” Jenny retreats into the safety of her home, and once the door slams shut B.J lets out a pent up sigh, bending over to place his hands on his knees.  
Sam pats his back and B.J chuckles.  
“This day just keeps getting better.”  
“We have yet to get the tree babe.” Sam continues to rub his shoulder and B.J groans, wrapping his arms around Sam and burying his face in her hair.  
“Shower first.”  
Sam throws her head back to laugh, the creeping feeling of complete happiness growing in her chest.

“Doesn’t that look pretty dad?” Trey stands back to admire his work on the Christmas tree a few hours later, it was decorated with multicoloured lights and random decorations: card gingerbread men Trey made at school, baubles with all their names on, courtesy of Kid of course.  
“You did a great job on it bud.” B.J ruffles Trey’s hair lovingly and steps alongside Sam, nuzzling her hair and she giggles.  
Trey suddenly gasps in delight, running up to the backdoor and pressing his face against it.  
“Look! It’s snowing!” He exclaims hopping from one foot to the other and racing to go and get his shoes on. “C’mon guys! Let’s go outside!” He pulls on his coat at record speed and runs to the door, Steeler trailing behind him while she yaps at all the commotion he’s making.  
Sam looks at B.J with raised eyebrows, elbowing his ribs playfully. “Whaddya say partner? Wanna run around in the snow?”  
“Sounds like a good time to me,” he chuckles and they both head outside, wrapped up in multiple layers of clothing, woollen hats and thick boots.  
Sam slides the door open and the sudden gust of icy winds knocks her off balance a bit and B.J steadies her with a smile.  
She takes a first step outside, a thin layer of snow has already lined the ground, and it crunches beneath her boots. The snow is falling fast and heavy, thick clumps sticking to her hair and eyelashes, causing her to blink furiously in order to see.  
Snow always makes things more magical in her opinion, creates a light atmosphere, and the way it coats everything in bright white brilliance amazes her.  
As she’d spent most of her life in Arizona, snow was never to be seen, and so when she moved away, winter was always more of a shock to her system. She was used to constant heat and unbearable sun. Pittsburgh was a wonderful change for her when she first moved here, and she doesn’t think she could imagine being anywhere else.  
“Hey there sunshine,” B.J whispered gruffly in her ear and she giggled.  
“Hey yourself.” She cupped his jaw with one hand and leant into his shoulder. He snaked and arm around her waist and pulled her close.  
“Oh, hey, did you send out the invites for the Christmas party?” B.J inquires.  
“Yeah, everyone already said they can make it, so it’s definitely on. I think it’ll be a good time.”  
They had been planning a Christmas party for a while now, inviting close friends and B.J’s family to join. Part of the reason for the party was to show off the new house, and Steeler of course.  
Sam hadn’t invited her family, they all disliked Christmas, and were always visiting her mother’s sister, they did it every year without fail. Sam stopped showing up for those a long time ago, it always turned into a depressing trip.  
“I’m really excited for it actually. I can’t wait to show everyone round,” B.J gushes, a small grin on his face.  
“Really?”  
“Yeah, are you kidding? I love this house, I love this neighbourhood. I’m really proud of it.” He stares off into the distance and Sam can’t stop the huge smile from growing on her face, it made her giddy how happy he seemed.  
They watched as Trey skipped around the garden energetically, slipping a few times as he went. Steeler tried her best to keep up with him, stumbling around and sneezing as flecks of snow stuck to her nose. She didn’t seem to mind the snow too much, it seemed to make her quite happy actually.  
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a snowball came hurtling towards Sam’s stomach, smacking into her, causing her to gasp in shock.  
Startled, she stepped back a couple of times and looked up to see Trey doubled over with laughter, B.J joining in with him.  
“Oh, you’re gonna get it mister,” she grumbles under her breath, a hidden smile on her face. She bends down to the ground and scoops up as much snow as she could, making two snowballs.  
The other two were too busy laughing hysterically at her to see Sam quietly collect her ammunition, as she sprung into action. She hurled one snowball first at Trey, hitting him right on his shoulder.  
The next one she threw collided with B.J’s chest, and he raised his gaze from his chest to Sam shouting, “hey!”. She shrugged at him, giggling away and he grins evilly at her.  
He too stoops to the floor to grab a snowball, Trey joining in with him.  
Sam raises her hands in self defence, stepping backwards and chanting “no, no, no, no!” as they advanced closer to her.  
She took off, running as fast as she could in the snow, clumps of snowflakes sticking in her hair as the other two chased her.  
She shrieks as both of the snowballs hit her back and she slows down, picking up more snowballs to retaliate as fast as she can before they have time to attack her again.  
B.J manages get close enough to grab her hand before she chucks it at them, and they stare at each other intensely.  
Sam’s lips are parted, and they’re both panting heavily from the chase, his gaze flits from her wildly blinking eyes to her soft lips,.  
B.J leans closer to her for a kiss, but she wriggles her hand from his grip and smushes the snowball in his face.  
“Sammy!” He exclaims in shock, wiping his face and grinning at her. She sticks her tongue out at him and he growls, charging for her and knocking her to the ground as she shrieks in delight.  
B.J lands on top of Sam, arms either side of her, pinning her to the ground.  
“Well hello there Samantha,” he murmurs, face close to her ear, stubbly jaw brushing across her cheek.  
“Hello Bradley James,” she replies, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards.  
He leans closer to her, brushing his lips against hers before peppering her face with sloppy kisses.  
“B.J you oaf! Get off me!” She yelps, shoving his body to the side.  
They both lie there on the ground, cackling together as the snow falls faster and Trey runs around with Steeler.  
Their breath forms warm clouds in the air, and Sam shields her eyes, turning to look at B.J who had been staring at her the entire time.  
She sits up to rest on one elbow, turning to him, grabbing the collar of his jacket and pulling his face close to hers for a soft, sweet kiss.  
“My, my Sam. Getting very bold here,” he teases, brushing his fingers across her cheek with a smirk.  
“Shut up.” She smacks his chest and they stare at each other for a while, his fingers curling around her hair as the snow falls around them, the scene was beautiful and calm. They could’ve stayed there forever, until Sam pulls herself up.  
“Hey, wait, let me get my phone to take some pictures.” Sam places a kiss on B.J’s jaw and dashes inside before he can say anything else.  
She leaves him outside, a half-smile on his face as he watches her fast-track her way indoors in amusement.  
She’s rooting around in the living room, positive she left her phone on the sofa when a knock sounds from the door.  
Confused as to who it could possibly be, she slowly makes her way to the front door, swinging it open to reveal a figure she would never have suspected to show up.  
Her mother.


	8. Delilah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam’s past is revealed, and her mother causes chaos.

# Love Thy Neighbour

“Hello Samantha. Are you going to invite me in or just stand there?” Delilah criticised, a sharp stare and a shrill voice.  
Sam was so shocked, how did her mother find her? Why was she here in the first place? Questions plagued her mind, and the anxiety began to set in. She was worried as to what her mother wanted from her and what she would say about her life at the moment. Delilah always had to pick out every little thing that annoyed her, and it was infuriating. But Sam was a people pleaser, and had never started a proper fight with her mother before, she just wanted to get along with her and be a better person than she was. But it was so difficult.  
Sam bit her lip and sucked in a harsh breath.“Of course. Come in mom.” She stepped aside and let her walk past, shutting the door after she enters and leading her through the front hall into the living room.  
Nothing had changed about her either, Sam noted. She still has the same dark red hair, long and curly, taut lips tightly lined with red lipstick and piercing eyes. She seemed to have aged since Sam last saw her too, the wrinkles around her eyes were more noticeable and she looked exhausted with everything.  
Sam didn’t have to ask to know that her mother was not only judging her right now, but also her house. She seemed to scan everything with laser eyes and the same expression. It’s not like the house was untidy, but it wasn’t in the best shape either. Sam and B.J both work and they have a child, along with two pets. Although, Sam suspected that her mother didn’t really care what excuses she could have, the house wasn’t up to her code and that was all that mattered.  
Her mothers gaze wandered back to Sam, and she knew instantly what she saw.  
Pink cheeks from the cold, fly-away strands of hair flowing through her hat and no make-up. Sam never wore too much make-up, she didn’t care for it, and it was something her mother always chastised her for.  
“The house is...nice. You could do with a better rug and a good vacuum though.” Delilah regarded her surroundings with a high brow and a tight-lipped expression.  
Sam ignored her mothers quip and stepped closer to her.  
“Mom, why are you here? How did you find out where I live?” She inquired, arms folding across her chest. She was trying her best to be polite as she could, but the way her mother showed up unannounced an picking at things already pissed her off.  
“I didn’t know I had to have a reason to visit my daughter,” she announced, glaring at her, “I knew you were moving, so I called up your work and asked one of your co-workers, what was her name, Chloe? Yes, that was it I think. Aren’t you happy to see me?”  
The look she had in her eyes, like she knew exactly what she was doing and how she was behaving, yet still continued to do so was irritating.  
“I’m always happy to see you Mom.” Sam forced out a smile and her concentration was drew away by the back door opening.  
“Sammy, baby, there’s a-“ B.J stopped dead in his tracks, his sentence hung in the air unfinished as his eyes met Delilah’s and he knew who it was immediately from the pictures Sam had framed.   
Her mother?   
B.J stopped his initial reaction to frown and instead smiled at her as warmly as he could, making his way over to stand next to Sam, a hand around her waist.  
“Who’s this Sam?”   
Sam chews the inside of her cheek, watching her mother’s expression change to that of mild disapproval.  
“I’m Delilah Gerris. _Samantha’s_ mother. Are you her boyfriend?” Delilah almost spat the last word out, and already B.J knew this whole thing would be a disaster, he barely said a word to her and she already hates him.  
“Yes, actually. My names B.J,” he stops as her top lip curls up in disgust and he rushes over the next few words. “It stands for Bradley James, but I prefer to be called B.J.”  
She tilts her head back and looks down her nose at him. “Well, I wish I could say I’ve heard wonderful things about you, but Samatha doesn’t tell me anything about her life.”  
Sam grits her teeth and B.J’s arm tightens around her waist. “That’s not exactly true mom. I do call you every so often, but you are almost always out.”  
Delilah’s tongue runs over her her top lip and she almost scoffs. “Yes, well. I’m quite a busy person. I have a lot of places to be.”  
Sam fights the urge to say ‘at all the bars probably’, the thought sits at the back of her mind and she tries to brush it off. B.J manages to break the uncomfortable silence by quickly interjecting.  
“Would you like something to drink? Maybe tea or coffee?”  
she considers the offer for far too long, and B.J suspects that she just wants him to feel awkward for a couple more seconds before she responds.  
“A tea would be nice.”  
“Of course. If you’ll just follow me into the kitchen...” B.J breaks away from Sam, leaving her a few moments quiet before she too follows after them.  
Delilah stares at the yellow walls in the kitchen for far too long, a stone faced expression, but Sam knows she hates the colour. She hates most bright things in general, it’s probably why Sam enjoys colour so much.  
B.J prepares her tea and places it on the counter for her, and Delilah looks at the ‘Steelers’ cup with slight disgust before B.J grabs Sam’s arm violently and stares directly at her.  
“Could I talk to you in private for a moment?” His voice is hushed, and she nods, turning to her mother.  
“We’re just going out here.” She motions to the doorway to entrance hall and speeds away before she can say anything in protest.  
B.J closes the door and turns to Sam, a horrified expression on his face.  
“What is she doing here?!” He hisses, his hand on her arm.  
“I don’t know! She just showed up without warning, said she doesn’t need a reason to see her daughter or something like that.”   
He releases her grip on her and she pulls her hat off, throwing it on the hall table in frustration and pinching the bridge of her nose.  
“Didn’t you say that she visits her sister every year at Christmas? And why is her last name different to yours?” B.J questions her frantically, he dislikes her already and her being here is making Sam uncomfortable, and he hates that immensely.  
“She still has dads last name, I changed mine to my grandmothers name the first chance I got. And she is with her sister, every year without fail. I don’t understand... oh gosh what if we have to have her stay here? We have to invite her to the party too now! Oh god...” she sighs and B.J’s shoulders drop, and he wraps his arms around her tightly.  
“Don’t worry about it ok? She probably has a hotel somewhere, and we don’t have to invite her to the party if she doesn’t know it’s happening. Ok?” He squeezes her one last time, a hand rubbing soothing circles on her back and she nods, pulling away from him as he smiles encouragingly at her.  
They both get startled by a sudden large amount of barking coming from the next room, and Sam and B.J cast confused looks at each other before they hurry next door.  
Trey is holding Steeler in his arms as she growls ferociously at Delilah, who seems quite surprised by the sudden outburst.   
“What’s going on?” Sam steps forward, eyeing Steeler suspiciously as she struggles in Trey’s arms.  
“Well, me and Trey were just talking before this dog ran in and started trying to attack me. It’s fine now, but he did tell me about a party you two are hosting next week.”  
Sam feels her heart plummet into her stomach and her face visibly falls, B.J notices it and grabs her hand in support.  
“Yes, we thought we’d celebrate our new house and new dog by throwing a party. You’re welcome to join us if you want, me and Sam were both under the impression you were busy during the holidays so we didn’t try to ask you.”  
Delilah pouts, tapping her fingers on the counter she’s next to.  
“I’d love to join. I’ll even invite Eric and Amy down too, they can stay with me at the hotel I’m staying at close by. Don’t want your siblings to miss out on this would you?” She casts a harrowed glare at Sam and she almost shrinks behind B.J’s body as gloom sets upon her.  
Not only was she definitely coming herself, but her delightful brother and sister were joining in too. Of course they were, it’s not like Sam could get one good thing without them ruining it.  
Eric was an all around depressing person, he’d been stuck in a failing marriage for over two years and refuses to get a divorce, hoping there’s still a chance love can be rescued. He tries his best for his daughter Maddison, but his less than enthusiastic outlook on life often gets in the way of him enjoying time with her.  
Amy is an exact replica of Delilah, snobby as hell, always turning her nose up at everything. She drinks more often than she should and never misses an opportunity to complain about almost anything.  
The three of them had been close as children, they had actually got on extremely well. But after their parents messy divorce, they drove each other away. Their parents relationship was a wreck, fights were always breaking out, and Sam’s father was an increasingly unhappy man.   
So the three of them took it hard when he left, becoming bitter, cold and distant.  
Most of them brought this childhood trauma with the as they grew up, and as an affect seemed to push the people closest to them away.  
It’s why Eric can’t leave his marriage, it’s why Amy’s following in Delilah’s footsteps and why Sam struggles to get close to anyone. She can barely make friends properly, and that made B.J especially important to her.  
“It really would be nice to see them I suppose.” The lie is difficult to tell, but Sam will do anything to keep the peace between the family.  
Delilah clasps her hands together with a smile. “Lovely. I tell you what would be nice... a tour of this *wonderful* house.” She says wonderful in a patronising tone, and a grand expression of glee spreads on her face, and it gives Sam chills. She knows deep down that her mother is taking great pleasure in completely disrupting her life and being a general pain in her ass.  
“Sure mom. I can show you around.” She smiles as sweetly as she can, slipping her hand out of B.J’s and making her way towards her mother. “Shall we?”  
Delilah nods and they both disappear out of the room to go upstairs.  
“She seems like a bitch,” Trey comments lightly, still facing the doorway the both left from, Steeler making sighing noises in his arms.  
“Trey!” B.J exclaims, a small smile growing on his face.  
“What? It’s the truth!”  
Sam is almost finished showing her mother the rooms when she springs a surprising question on her.  
“So, he has a child?” Delilah says it casually, as if it means nothing, as she studies the ceramic elephants from Sam’s old house. To Sam it’s a criticism of something, as to what she isn’t sure of.  
Sam stops in the place, turning around slowly to face Delilah.  
“What are you saying exactly?” Sam feels a mix of disgust and confusion come over her.  
“I just... never mind.” She shrugs her shoulders, letting the comment roll off.  
“No, go on mom. Don’t stop now.” Sam folds her arms across her chest defensively, tilting her head to one side.  
“I just wouldn’t thought you would have gone for someone with a child, that’s all.”  
“Why is that? Why would you.. why would you think that?”  
“It’s a surprise to me darling, that’s what I mean. Where is his real mother exactly?”  
Sam’s about to open her mouth to snap back at her, rage rattling in her bones, threatening to unleash, when B.J walks in. He looks back and forth, acknowledges what’s going on and comes to stand by Sam.  
“Hey hon, I have to go, Jenny next door said she needs my help. Her bathroom sink clogged up or something.”   
Sam breathes out heavily through flared nostrils and pulls her stare from her mother to focus on B.J, a hand instinctively moving to his chest.  
“Sure babe.”  
“I should go anyway,” Delilah comments, pursing her lips and changing her stance.  
“Yes mom. Yes, you should.” Sam narrows her eyes at her mother and Delilah passes off the look like she doesn’t understand why Sam’s mad.  
“We’ll walk you out.” B.J extends his arm and they walk to the front door together and Delilah turns back to them before she leaves.  
“It’s been lovely to see you Samantha. I’ll talk to you some other time to arrange the things for the party.”  
And with that she exits, leaving no time for replies or heartfelt goodbyes, not that she’d get one anyway.  
“What was that about?” B.J asks with care, turning to place a hand gently on Sam’s hip.  
She turns her head to stare at the floor, willing the anger to disappear. “I’ll tell you about it after you’re done. I’m gonna get a bath.” She swiftly turns away from him and makes her way upstairs, listening to B.J invite Trey around to help him and as soon as the door shuts she starts to cry. Not a lot of tears, just a few. They’re angry tears, and she asks herself why her mother had to be so cruel to turn up and force her way into Sam’s carefully constructed life passing off insults like they’re gentle observations.  
She turns the bath on, pours in some lavender scented liquid soap and strips off her clothes. She sinks into the bubbly water, submerging her head under the water, letting the water warm her skin.  
She lies there for a while, staring at the tiles, letting time pass her by unknowingly as her mind is blank yet clogged with thoughts at the same time.  
She’s so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she doesn’t see B.J quietly slip inside the bathroom and perch on the edge of the toilet seat.  
“How are you feeling? You look sad.”  
Sam tilts her head back to rest on the edge of the bathtub.  
“Not sad. Just... disappointed.”  
“Why?” He’s sincere in his question, leaning forward to listen to her with clamped hands and a soft expression.  
Sam clears her throat, squeezing her eyes tightly shut before snapping them back open again.  
“I have to wonder, if I was to give my mom a piece of my mind for the first time in my life, will she even care? Will she be able to listen to me? Or will she write me off as being a child? I’m wondering whether she has even the remote capability to understand me, or any of my emotions, just for one single minute. If I say anything, will it really make a difference? The answer to that is probably no. And for that reason I don’t think it’s even worth trying.”  
There’s a couple of moments silence, where B.J mulls over Sam’s words, and his heart breaks.  
She never had an easy life, father abandoning her and her family at a young age and never attempting to make contact, a controlling and alcoholic mother, a lifeless brother, and a sister who is basically a clone of her mom.  
He makes his way over to her, kneeling on the floor by the bathtub and picking her hand up from the edge of the tub to press a kiss to her knuckles.  
“It’s at least worth a try right? You’ll never know what she thinks unless you confront her about it first.”  
Sam tilts her head and meets B.J’s gaze, and the sight of his sweet face so contorted into worry over her brings a smile to her lips.  
“Maybe you’re right.”  
“Maybe I am.”


	9. Happy New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and B.J prepare a New Year’s party, and a lot of unexpected situations pop up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said it would be a Christmas party, but I’m a bit late so it’ll be a New Year’s Party instead :)
> 
> As this is the last chapter, I would like to thank you all so much for reading, I loved this series a lot and I will miss it deeply.

# Love Thy Neighbour

**The Final Chapter**  
The alarm sounds on Sam’s phone, and she rolls over to smack the screen before dropping into her pillow with a muffled groan.  
B.J rolls over and grumbles, yawning and stretching his arm over to pull Sam’s body into his.  
“Five more minutes,” he mumbles into her hair, settling his hand on her waist and nuzzling her neck.  
She relaxes into his grip, a small smile on her lips. “We don’t have five minutes babe. The party is in a couple of hours and I really want to get the house ready beforehand.” She sighs and B.J shuffles back so he can look at her face properly, a hand on her jaw. She looks perfect on a morning, still pleasantly sleepy with messy hair and gentle eyes.  
“Do you want to get the house ready for the part or for your mom?”   
The corners of Sam’s mouth curl and she shuts her eyes, leaning into his hand.  
“Both. But mainly for my mom. She’s a pain in the ass for this type of stuff.”  
“Then why go out of your way to impress her?” He’s watching her with a tilted head and a half smirk because he knows he’s challenging her.  
Sam lets out an exasperated sigh. “I thought we talked about this not too long ago.”  
“Yeah well, gotta make sure you heard what I said. You need to tell her what you feel.” He presses a kiss to her shoulder and she chews the inside of her cheek, thinking more and more about what he says. She knows he’t right, but she doesn’t want to admit it because admitting it made it real. It made it necessary for her to do the difficult task of standing up to her mother, for the first time.  
Sam doesn’t get time to think because Steeler comes bounding into their bedroom, leaping onto their bed with surprising agility and licking B.J’s face in excitement.   
He grins and tries his best to wrestle her away from him, complaining about her being a “filthy mutt” but Sam knows he loves Steeler at heart.  
Trey climbs up onto the bed and nestles himself between Sam and B.J, a happy grin on his face.  
“Are you guys gonna get up anytime soon? Because Amelia’s coming with her parents to the party and I need help deciding on what to wear.”  
There’s a sparkle in his eyes, and the way Trey fumbles with the blanket makes B.J smile softly, reaching out to ruffle his hair.  
“I’ll help you out buddy.”

A couple hours later and Sam’s bustling around the kitchen with B.J at her side wearing an apron covered in various food stains, uplifting music playing in the background.  
Sam sways her hips to the songs and hums under her breath, a steady panic resting in her chest as she worried she won’t get everything finished before people start arriving.  
Then she feels two large hands rest on her waist and feels the brush of B.J’s jaw against her cheekbone and she can practically hear him smirking.  
“Samantha you’re making this really difficult for me. I’m thinking about calling this whole part off and whisking you away to our bedroom,” he purrs in her ear, and Sam can’t help but blush, her hands brushing wisps of hair out of her face to distract herself.  
“As much as I would love that, I think all of our family is on their way over here and they’d be pretty upset if we just disappeared. But I’ll take a rain check on that offer.”   
She grins at him, resting her hands on the side of his jaw before rushing off to place food on the table with Trey, piling plates high and laying out cutlery.  
She can see B.J out of the corner of her eye as she passes him, a smirk on his face and a glint in his eyes as he unapologetically stares at her backside.  
At this point, Sam’s pretty sure everything is ready, the table is set, the house is clean, and the snacks are on the table.   
Plus, it’s like a mini bar at the house, they have a bottle of every imaginable wine and more champagne than an engagement party would have.  
There’s just one thing...  
“Oh my god! I’m not even dressed!” She shrieked, throwing her apron onto the kitchen counter and hearing B.J chuckle as she leaves.  
After getting a quick shower, she dries her hair and puts it into the neatest up do she can. Her make-up is simple, just like any other day, pink lipstick and mascara.  
Her dress, however, is the opposite of simple.  
It’s dark green and taffeta, with mid length sleeves and a high collar, ending a bit above the knee with black lace underdress that flows out at the end.  
As she puts it on she can’t help but gasp to herself a little bit, the fabric is so gorgeous that it glimmers under the light as she moves, and she feels like a real life princess.  
She pulls on some tights and a pair of black chunky heels, spritzing herself with a winter berry perfume and making her way downstairs proudly.  
The click of heels from the living room distracts B.J and he makes his way out of the kitchen, a towel thrown over his shoulder, and he stops dead in his tracks when he sees her.  
She’s like his angel, a halo of gold around her head and soft lips that he could look at all day. She looks so perfect stood there, cuddling Steeler in front of the fire, the light casting a warm glow on her skin.  
And the dress, oh the dress, he wants to watch her in it forever.  
By the time she notices him stood behind her, he’s already been stood there for an embarrassingly long time watching her.  
“Hey there,” she giggles, coming over to plant a kiss on his lips and wrapping her arms around his neck and he feels his heart leap in his chest.  
When she pulls away, he grabs her waist and brings it to his, nuzzling his head in her hair.  
“I’m so happy you’re mine,” he whispers softly, eyes half closed.  
She looks a bit shocked at his sudden burst of affection, but her face lightens and she looks wistfully at him, biting her bottom lip.  
“Me too.”

B.J got ready too, wearing white shirt with a few buttons undone and grey trousers with black dress shoes. He looked handsome as heck, and Sam wanted to stay extra close to him tonight.  
Trey dressed up, a blue shirt and a red bowtie with suspenders. B.J helped him do his hair, and Trey came back from the mirror with the widest smile, feeling super confident.  
People had started arriving, Sally and Henry were painfully early and Sally insisted on helping, Henry gladly took the opportunity to get a beer and poke fun at Tigger with B.J.  
B.J’s friends were next, Andy and his family, Landon and his girlfriend and Evan with no one, true bachelor style.  
Kid arrived pretty late, bringing more wine and expensive cheeses, declaring he was famished and proceeding to eat half of what was set out on the table.  
A couple of Sam’s co-workers that she got on with came too, bearing gifts and smiles.  
But none of her family yet.  
B.J can tell she’s nervous, each sound sets her on edge and every time Steeler barks she checks if someone’s at the door.   
It’s making him worried for her, so he makes it a point to stand closer to her and touch her shoulder when he can, making sure she’s ok.  
And when a knock at the door sounds B.J notices her jump and shiver at the same time, and she rushes to the door to open it as fast as she can.  
He follows her in time to see Delilah step through the door with an arrogant air about her, followed by two figures he can only assume to be Eric and Amy.  
Eric’s a peculiar looking man, a pointed nose and small eyes that seem to dart around nervously. His hair is slicked back with more gel than necessary, and he looks worried at being here already.  
Amy looked bored, and very difficult to impress too. Her hair is like Delilah’s, dark red and curly, with bright green eyes like Sam’s and freckles.  
“Samantha.” Delilah remarks with a stern expression.  
“Mom. How are you?”  
Delilah curls her lip upwards and checks around Sam’s shoulder at the laughter echoing from inside the house.  
“I’m fine thank you. Aren’t you going to introduce your siblings to... Bradley.” She waves her hand in B.J’s direction, and her purposeful misuse of his name and her curt tone of voice led B.J to believe that she really didn’t like him very much. And he was fine with that. He didn’t like her very much either, she treated Sam like crap and regarded her like she was dirt on her shoes.  
And he thought that there wasn’t much he could do to change her perspective, she seemed like she was set on one state of mind.  
“Erm, yes. Amy, Eric, this is my partner, B.J.” B.J, Amy and Eric all nodded politely and exchanged handshakes, they didn’t really seem like the type of people to talk a lot.   
“It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a bit about you, you’re a coach right? At the local high school?” Amy says politely, shifting her handbag on her shoulder as she attempts to make eye contact with the two of them.  
“Yes, I coach football. The kids are difficult to work with, but it’s rewarding.”  
Delilah makes a sound that could be a scoff, and B.J tries to ignore it, gritting his teeth at her insulting demeanour.  
“I work in a high school too, but I teach science. And I know exactly how difficult it can be, but I definitely agree with you there. The outcome is what makes all the hard work worth it.” Eric smiles encouragingly at B.J and shoots his mother a look, and B.J can only assume she‘s rude this often enough for them to notice.  
“How about we go in and introduce you all to everyone?” Sam interjects, gesturing to the room next to them.  
“Don’t dither, lets go,” Delilah announced, ghosting past them to inspect the living room and all the people inside, drinking and talking already.  
The rest of them follow her in and the guests, upon seeing the new group, break away from their conversations and dancing to bring their attention to the newcomers.  
Sam and B.J go around introducing everyone there to Sam’s family, and the entire time Delilah looks mildly disgusted. And B.J swears that she physically rolls her eyes upon meeting Kid, his childish charm was wasted on her.  
“And who is this beautiful woman I see before me?” Kid announces with flair, reaching out to try and kiss her hand, but she retracts it with a sour expression.  
“Delilah Gerris thank you. You must be Kid. I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”  
“All good I hope!” Kid jokes, clutching his stomach as he lets out a raspy chuckle and Delilah rolls her eyes.  
“I suppose so. I’ve heard you’re very charitable, and that your jokes are quite awful a lot of the time.” Delilah purses her lips, he hand on her waist as she directs her attention towards Sam’s decor. What she said was supposed to be an insult, but it takes more than that to affect Kid.  
“It’s very true! He used to do stand up, but he was terrible at it,” Sally laughs, taking a long drink of champagne and watching Delilah’s reaction over the rim of the glass.  
“Yes... well. We’re not all fit to be comedians... as my mother would say: ‘hilarity is given to those who seek the intrigue of ones own enemies’.” And with that she saunters off, leaving the rest of them in a state of confusion.  
“What the hell is that even supposed to mean?” Henry exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.  
“I honestly have no idea,” B.J murmurs.  
“Your mom’s-“ Sally begins with furrowed brows and a concerned expression.  
“A real piece of work? Yep, had to deal with that all my life.” Sam folds her arms across her chest and bites her lip.  
“Don’t worry about her. You enjoy yourself ok? I’m sure she’ll come around soon,” Sally reassures Sam, a hand resting supportively on her arm.  
“And if that doesn’t work we can just chuck her outside in the snow, she looks like an evil snow queen right?” Kid chuckles and earns a smack on the chest from Sally, but it makes Sam smile a lot more than it should.  
Sam later asks if her family want drinks, and the three of them all tell her what they want. Sam already knows what her mom likes, red wine and nothing else.   
Eric pulls at his shirt collar uncomfortably, and Sam immediately regrets roping him into this. He doesn’t do very well in social situations, and will most likely disappear somewhere without making an effort.  
Sally tries her best to talk to Delilah, but she waves off any attempt at a conversation and sips her wine instead. Delilah is intent on pissing everyone there off, for reasons unknown, despite Sally’s offer of friendship.  
Amy and Eric separate pretty quickly, but end up alone in opposite corners of the room. The only movement Amy makes is back and forth into the kitchen for more drink top ups, and Evan even tries to make a pass at her. But she keeps pushing him away.  
“This isn’t going well at all,” Sam murmurs as she stands by B.J in the kitchen, craning her neck to check on her family every couple of seconds.  
“There isn’t much you can do about that, everyone is pretty much refusing to make an effort to get to know anyone else. Wait, where’s Steeler? She’d be a good conversation starter right?” He turns to her with a grin on his face, clutching her arm.  
“She’s hiding in Trey’s room I think. Or just sleeping. That might work actually...”  
“Of course it will. You go get her, I’ll change the music and bring more snacks out in here, then we can eat together. How about that?” He kisses her cheek and she giggles, her fingers lingering on his sleeve.  
“That sounds great, thanks babe.”  
“Anytime gorgeous.” He grins again and smacks her backside before sauntering off to change the music.  
She shakes her head, a small smile tugging at her lips and she retrieves Steeler from Trey’s room.  
And as soon as she comes back everyone crowds around, cooing at her and trying to stroke her, Andy’s kids almost have a fit when they see her.  
Trey recounts the story in great detail to everyone, proudly announcing how he found her and saved her from the harsh winter weather.  
Pretty soon Andy and his wife are bonding with Eric about how their children all want puppies and Sam’s co-workers are talking to Amy about bad ex-boyfriends, Evan still tailing behind her.  
He’s very interested in Amy, but seems lost for words every time he tries to speak to her, and it’s quite sweet really. It’s nice for B.J to see him acting shy rather than overconfident, almost refreshing, and he has a little hope that they might end up together.  
Delilah, however, hasn’t changed. In fact, she seems more stern looking than before, but Sam doesn’t want to bother with her at this point.  
“This is going better,” B.J whispers in Sam’s ear as he stands behind her, hands on her waist, jaw brushing against her cheekbone.  
Sam smiles and relaxes into him, letting out a deep rooted sigh.  
“Yeah. It is.”

Another hour later and they’re all having food together, standing or sitting wherever they can, but there’s so many people it’s quite difficult to navigate anywhere.  
Trey has been nervously glancing around the room now for several minutes, and Sam feels a little worried for him. He takes a deep breath and walks over to her, tugging at Sam’s dress.  
“Sammy I want to say something to everyone.” He looks anxious, his eyes wide in what looks like fear, his hands clutched by his side.  
“Sure little man. Do you want me to get their attention for you?” He nods and Sam makes her way over to the stereo to turn the music off, Trey following her closely.  
“Excuse me everyone, sorry to interrupt but I think Trey has something to say...” she turns to face him and smiles reassuringly, patting his shoulder.  
People slowly gather around Trey and he nervously steps forward, fumbling around in his pocket for a single piece of paper and bringing it out to hold in front of him, clearing his throat to speak.  
“Samantha, the first time I met you I liked you. You were kind and you gave me cookies and let me talk to you about my toys. You let me hang out at your house and play with your cat, and you helped me with my homework. And most importantly, you made my dad laugh. He was quite sad a lot of the time, but whenever he saw you he got happy, and that made me happy. I think you are an amazing person and I hope you stay forever because I think dad would be lost without you. But also because I love you and I think you’re like a mother to me.”   
He folds the piece of paper and jams it in his pocket, looking around at all the tearful faces in front of him in surprise.  
And when he turns around to look at Sam she’s crying too, and she can’t help it. What he said and how he said it impacted her more than anything else had done before, and tears start streaming down her face because she loves him so much, and there is nothing she would rather do than be a mother to him. She’s looking at B.J too, and tears are brimming in his eyes, a huge grin on his face.  
Then Sally starts clapping, and everyone else soon follows.  
Sam rushes to give Trey a hug, squeezing his shoulders tightly and laughing as B.J joins them too, almost lifting them off of the ground as he hugs them so closely.

Two hours later and everyone is quite drunk, dancing around wildly with each other and laughing at pretty much anything at this point.  
Amy finally gave in to Evan’s advances, and they’ve been flirting for the past hour, standing closely to each other and have been dancing for quite a while.  
Eric has come out of his shell a lot, and is now even cracking jokes with Kid and Henry, much to Sam’s surprise.  
B.J’s been dancing with Sam for a while, hugging her waist closely to him and his face pressed against hers, whispering unmentionable things in her ear to make her giggle.   
It’s the happiest they’ve both felt in a while, and they both feel like they’re glowing, everything seems to be going perfectly, and it can only get better.  
“Hey, hey.” B.J pulls away from Sam and motions to Andy whose stood next to the stereo to turn it off. There are some complaints but B.J waves them off with a smile, turning around to look at everyone before he starts speaking.  
He looks back at Sam, a deep and meaningful expression on his face, with a nervous smile.  
He reaches into his pocket to pull out a box, and kneels down on one knee to open it with shaking hands.  
Sam gasps, her hands flying to her face to cover her mouth in shock as she sees the sparkling diamond ring.  
B.J’s chuckles at her reaction, biting his lip as he works up the courage to say something.  
“I have loved you, Samantha Coleman, since the very day I met you. I knew, right from that very second that you were an incredible woman and deserved all the happiness in the world. After tonight, seeing how much Trey loves you, I have to make this official. I want you to be in the rest of my life, because I love you with every fibre of my being and you are so precious to me. So what do you say Sammy? Do you want to go into the new year as my fiancé?”  
His eyes flit anxiously over her face, and she lets out a happy sob, reaching for the ring. It feels right in her hands, the cold silver is a representation of her future with him, and as she slides it on her finger everything seems to be perfect in the world.  
She laughs and throws herself at B.J, her arms tightening around his neck as his hands move to her waist.  
“Yes, yes! A thousand times yes!”  
The whole room erupts into cheers and chorused laughter, and Sam pulls B.J close for a long and deep kiss, her hands running through his hair.  
She clutches his face, and for the second time tonight she’s crying.  
“I love you so much,” she whispers, biting her bottom lip.  
“I love you too.”

The countdown to the new year was hectic, the TV was on showing only half an hour left of the year, people were pretty drunk at this point and Sam was drunk off of happiness... and she’d had a lot of alcohol at this point too.  
She was walking around with a constant goofy smile on her face, B.J followed her around too, as if she would disappear right in front of his very eyes.  
Sam had to keep checking her hand, to make sure the ring was still there, that all of this wasn’t a dream. And all of this was a dream of hers really, and she still couldn’t believe it was real. It was so perfect, and it was everything she wanted from life.  
Sam spotted her mother sulking in the kitchen and motioned to B.J she was going in.  
“I’m just going to check on her.”  
B.J pulled her closer, placing kisses on her cheek and she giggled.  
“Don’t be too long?” He murmured, eyes watching her softly.  
“I won’t,” she assured him, brushing her hand against his face before making her way into the kitchen.  
Delilah looked up from the counter, a raised eyebrow at Sam’s sudden appearance.  
“What are you doing in here... alone?” Sam inquired, leaning her elbows on the counter. Delilah watched her with disdain, curling her lip upwards as she took a long sip of her wine.  
“I just needed a minute to myself. Is that too much to ask? That crowd out there is a rowdy bunch, I don’t know how you became friends with most of them. And that man, what’s his name, Kid? He’s a wretched piece of work, making immature comments and such.” She huffed in irritation and pursed her lips.  
Sam felt a strong feeling of power come over her, and she stood up, facing her mother with a stoney expression.  
“I’m going to say something that you probably won’t like mom.”   
Delilah rolled her eyes, taking a sip of wine again, like she thought Sam wasn’t going to speak her mind, that she wouldn’t dare say anything to insult her.  
But she was wrong.  
“I’m just curious, do you ever pull that stick outta your ass Delilah, or does it just stay there forever?” Sam folded her arms across her chest, watching in delight as her mother spluttered and struggled to get her breath back.  
She looked at Sam, a fire blazing in her eyes and her shrill voice echoed “excuse me?”.  
“I’ve been watching you since you got here last week, and you haven’t stopped _complaining_. This isn’t right, that isn’t placed correctly, I mean, do you ever just _shut up_ and enjoy a moment? You come into _my home_ and insult _my family_. Yeah, that’s right. You may not see it mom but these people right here, they are my family. And they have been more loving towards me than you have been in your entire life. And Kid? Kid has done so much for me and B.J! He helped with practically everything, Trey, the house, my job, B.J’s career and I’m betting this ring on my finger right here. Because that’s the sort of person he is. He looks after his family, and he does it with pride. Unlike you. And B.J oh my god, you didn’t even give him a chance mom! You switched off, the exact minute you saw him and didn’t give him a chance. Does it mean nothing to you that I love him? That he cares for me on the daily, that he helps me through my job when it gets really tough, that he’s been so good to me and that he makes me happy. Does it really pain you that much that he makes me happy? Do you not approve of us or something? Because I’m still marrying him, whatever you think.”   
Sam’s exasperated, and her mom’s lost for words. She places her wine glass down, shuts her mouth and chews the inside of her cheek.  
“Fine Samantha. You’re right, I don’t approve of this marriage, but you can go through with it. I don’t care.”  
“That’s half the problem mom, you don’t care. Not about me, not about Eric or Amy and probably not even yourself considering that you’re practically killing yourself with all the wine you drink. And to think of how much time I wasted on you, trying to help you through this and you threw my efforts back in my face like it was nothing! And so, for all of these reasons, I’m ignoring your opinion and marrying B.J because he makes me happy and I love him with all of my heart. If you don’t care, if you don’t like it here, then leave. It’s as simple as that.”  
Sam holds back the angry tears in her eyes, standing as straight as she can to appear stronger than she feels.   
And Delilah doesn’t know what to do, or what to say. She stands there in complete silence, mulling over every word Sam said with extreme care.  
Sam steps closer to her mother, leaning on hand on the counter and trying to bring her emotions together, trying to calm herself. And then Sam speaks, saying something she’d never thought she’d say in this very moment.  
“Or mom... we could start over. Piece together our relationship and try to figure out where it wall went wrong. See a therapist together, get you going to AA meetings. I want to help you, if you’d let me. Just... try. Try to be friends with the people in there, try to be friends with B.J. Just try. And maybe we can figure this out together, and live without hating each other. I want to start this again, if you’re willing to do it with me.”   
Sam holds her breath, her mother is staring at the counter intensely, and when she looks up, she had tears in her eyes and a regretful expression on her face.  
“I’d like that very much... Sam. I’m so, so, so sorry. I... I’m really struggling at the moment, your father has been on my mind a lot recently and it’s made it so difficult. And my drinking got worse and... I thought that if I’m upset, that everyone else should be. And that’s so, very wrong of me. I want to try this again Sam. I want to be a proper mother to you.”  
Sam breaks into a smile and cries a little bit, pulling her mother in for a tight hug, something she hasn’t done for a long time. And it feels nice, and freeing.   
“How about I get you a lemonade and we can watch the new year arrive with everyone else?” Sam half-whispers, half-laughs through her tears and Delilah nods, a smile appearing on her face that Sam had never seen before.  
Sam and Delilah made their way back into the living room as the clock neared closer and closer, Sam’s hand in her mothers.  
She stood next to B.J, and he looks at her in shock when he saw her mother with her. Delilah clears her throat, extending her hand out to shakes B.J’s.  
“I’m sorry I was such a bitch when I met you. And I’m sorry if I offended anyone here as well. Sam and I talked it over, and I know I need to make some changes. I would like to start this over, as your friend, and be a good mother-in-law to you when the time arises B.J.”  
She’s earnest in her offer, and B.J shakes her hand with a grin.  
“That sounds lovely Delilah.”  
And, as the clock counts down from ten, Sam and B.J clutching each others waists with Trey holding their hands, they are surrounded by the people they love.  
In her heart, Sam knew the following year would be one of the best she would ever have in her life.  
And she was really looking forward to it.


End file.
